Princess Beatrix Visits Arikok National Park

Princess Beatrix on Friday took part in the official handover of the Spanish Lagoon to the authority of Arikok National Park during her visit to Aruba.

The 70-hectare area sits on the tip of the Arikok National Park and is “one of the largest natural lagoons in the Caribbean”. It is home to a large variety of flora and fauna specifies, and is an important location on the island due to its level of biodiversity.

The Princess – who is patron of the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance – also visited the Bubaliplas, a bird sanctuary that is part of the Park. Here, she was told about the ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ situation the island’s natural habitats are facing because of an increase in tourism – the increase is good for prosperity, but it does damage to the island because more and more terrain has to be allocated to housing and infrastructure to support the increase in population that has come with an increase in tourism.

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged Animals, Aruba, Environment, Patronage, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Working Visit.