Things to do on Bonaire

Drive south and the landscape turns white: the salt pans, with flamingos standing in them and the small stone slave huts on the coast beside them, left as they were.

Mangazina di Rei above Rincon was once the storehouse where enslaved government workers came for their provisions. It is now a cultural center, and it is the best place on the island to understand what you are looking at.

Washington Slagbaai National Park takes up the north of the island and needs most of a day, a full tank and ideally a high car. And Kralendijk itself is small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes, which is the right way to see it.

On the east side. At the Mangrove Center on Lac Bay a guide takes you by kayak through the mangrove channels, a protected wetland you can only enter with a guide. Nearby, the Donkey Sanctuary is a drive through the grounds in your own car while the donkeys come up to the windows. It runs on donations, and children tend to remember it longest.

In the north. Gotomeer, a salt lake on the way to the national park, is the most reliable place to see flamingos. The Cadushy Distillery in the center of Rincon gives tours with tastings of its liqueurs and Rom Rincon. On the last Saturday of the month, the Nos Zjilea market at Mangazina di Rei has local food, crafts and live music from 10:00 to 15:00.

For the town, the boulevard and the history of Rincon, see Kralendijk and Rincon.