Destination Caribbean: Salt Slave Huts

Bonaire is a culture-rich island located in the Lesser Antilles, in the Caribbean. Bonaire, the “B” of the “ABC Islands,” is small, but full of natural and man-made beauty.

There is an abundance of history that can be found on these islands, but an important and unique must-see are the Salt Slave Huts. The huts are located near the coastal EEG Boulevard, on the southwest coast of the island, near the colourful “Salt Lake” in Bonaire.

Historic yet beautifully eerie, there is something magical about these white shanties that stand like ghosts, scattered on the beach. The Salt Slave Huts are only skeletons of a memory. Slaves, who worked on the salt ponds, camped here in 1850. During times of slavery, these small huts, no taller than 4 feet, served as sleeping and storage quarters for slaves who worked to collect salt – Bonaire’s main export.

The picturesque huts are a fantastic photo-op, unique to the Dutch island. Slavery was abolished in the Dutch colonies over 150 years ago, yet the huts suggest the grim past of Spanish and Dutch slave masters on the island.

The four Obelisks, painted in the colours of the Dutch flag, also still remain. They stand as statute markers, used as navigational guides for ships to load and carry the salt.

Made entirely of stone, the huts have been preserved with newer, sturdier wood, creating a more genuine and accurate replica of the inimitable Salt Slave Huts.