When you look at the map of Aruba you can see that about 20% of this whole is covered by a national park called Arikok. Not something most people think about when they are spread out under their umbrella on Palm Beach, but this national park is actually the most peaceful place on the whole island.
Let me rephrase, the whole East Side of Aruba is just a remarkable piece of tranquility.
A little transportation story
So back to Arikok national park because this had a bit of history getting to the caves for me. Because on every blog of post (and even on aruba.com) you can see that it is a bad idea to enter the national park with a normal vehicle. A 4x4 is recommended and ATVs and UTVs are also a good way or transporting yourself.
What isn't mentioned is that since covid last year it was clearly shown how good nature was restoring in the national park when everyone was in lockdown.
So since then the rules have slowly changed with first limiting the amount of ATV and UTV vehicles, until after a couple of months entitely banning them. But you really need to look for it to find that information. Let's say...there was no memo
So arriving with an unknown forbidden vehicle at Arikok national park I had no idea I was doing something wrong until after the denial. No worries on that because there was still enough to see on the shoreline.
But on another days we arrived with an approved vehicle and entered the park. Large and dewp flooding gaps make the ride over the paved road interesting I would say, as they act as decent speedbumps. With beautiful shorelines everywhere there is enough to see.
But then the caves!
The caves on Aruba were truly a hidden gem and I never expected them to be so cool. Fontein cave has an awesome starting sight to see with the light messing with the colours on the wall. It isn't that big but absolutely stunning to see.
The highlight of the cave fest is surely Quadirikiri cave which takes you deeper into the caves. With bats flying around you (I admit bats and covid times make you wonder if you are creating a new variant maybe right in there) when you go deeper into the caves some natural light comes in from above.
This gives the most stunning sights and according to a local dude this hole in the ceiling was formed because of sea water reaching up to here years and years ago which is quite special since this cave is about 30 meters above sealevel.
So should you visit these caves in Arikok national park when visiting Aruba? Yes the $11 entrance fee goes entirely to the preservation of the park and the caves and it is really something else to see and do apart from your normal tropical island shenenigans.