Bonaire (4) – Donkeys

Such a healing scenery I randomly captured when we stopped at the road — that gentle sunlight softens my face; a group of good-looking donkeys walked slowly towards our direction — maybe curious, or maybe wanted some food? Some meters away, several flamingos were relax in the water, living without a purpose like when we were little. I stayed there for a long time and did not want to leave from this harmony.

Donkeys are such good friends in this town. They are here and there in the woods and near the road, calm and relaxed, walking or just staring at you. The Spanish brought them, because they can survive in the hot and harsh environment and eat anything. I am never good at pets, but for donkeys, it is easy. They get along with people. I touched and padded several of them. They did not move and their chillness soothe my soul. Their furs are soft 🙂

There is this place called “donkey sanctuary”, and opens every day. The owner started this place by hosting some starving and sick donkeys from the streets. Days by days, they collected more and more, like 800-900 today. From outside, it looks like a small petting zoo, but when we drove in, wow, it is such a big place with interesting views, plants, and of course, the donkeys. It’s a surprise!

As I said, donkeys are very cute and friendly. This one almost sticks his face into my window 😀 Hello buddy!

As we slowly drove along the road. Some of them followed us 🙂

Oh, look! there are different looks and they stay in pairs sometimes 🙂

You probably noticed that there are many smiles in my text above. Yes, I still have so many smiles now when I brought up the memories of that day. You probably guessed that it must be a great day there!

Look at this view! It reminds me of the Clint Eastwood western movies :). A harmony of earth, plant and animal.

There is a high structure (see the left in distance) in the middle of sanctuary where you can climb up to have an overlook (see the right).

You can also feed donkeys here. Since they looked cute and calm, we decided to give it a try. We drove back to the gift shop and spent $30 bought a dutch hay. It is like 15kg? I even can’t easily carry it around. I never carried so much hay 😀

Now they came — two, four, … some are patient, waiting quietly at a corner; some are mean, stepping over others and showing up their dirty teeth and trying to bite. We had fun exercising justice there, giving the good ones more hays :D. There must be at least 30-40 of them at a time.

Here is our neighbour truck who was also busy. At the end, they were so tired, they just abandoned their hay on the road :D. My son and I worked at the back of our truck non-stop for more than half an hour until all the hays were given out. Our hairs, clothes and even throats were full of small grasses. But maybe the labor work is always happy, or maybe it is rewarding to feed and take care of animals, we had such a great time, and experienced, dirty, down to earth, and yet special type of satisfactory that I never had experienced.

There is a shelter in the sanctuary which host baby donkeys. Look at this small one, he/she only a few days old, how cute and handsome. The sign said that donkeys will always stay close to their mother and family. Donkey babies here are from the mothers that they get in from the street. The sanctuary does not breed them so that they can control the population of the donkeys on the island.