You, the sea and eighty thousand pink flamingos. And salt. Lots of salt, courtesy of the Morton Salt Crystal Factory, which has been in operation on Great Inagua since the 1800’s. Welcome to Inagua, both Great and Little.
Inagua kind of epitomizes the term ‘remote’. Great Inagua is the most southerly and third largest of the Bahamian islands. Little Inagua is an unmanned island where tropical birds and emancipated livestock frolic in harmony. Abandoned farm animals roam wild on the islands. Cows, goats and pigs share turf with endangered green turtles that are bred here at Union Creek Reserve. You can almost pitch a softball to Cuba from Great Inagua, it’s only 50 miles off the Southwest Point. Also on the Southwest Point one can climb to the top of one of the last four remaining hand-operated kerosene lighthouses in the Bahamas. To visit the tall pink birds that dominate Inagua, you’ll need a chaperone. No one gets inside Inagua National Park without a warden, thus ensuring the endangered flamingoes remain unaccosted. Eco-tourists flock to this haven for parrots, herons, pelicans, egrets and West Indian tree ducks. Donkey fanciers arrive on Great Inagua in August for the annual Inagua Heritage Festival and Donkey Derby.
