NP4 Conch Bar Caves National Park

General Description
An area of over 200 acres to the east of Conch Bar in Middle Caicos bounded on the north by the high water mark, and on the south by the main road from Conch Bar to Bambarra. For exact description see the relevant legislation.

Features of Interest
This site consists of the Conch Bar Cave System itself and the above ground land that covers and surrounds it. The area includes Village Hill and several nearby ponds. It is a karst cave system with specialised cave fauna and flora including bats, crustaceans and isopods. The above ground area supports rare plant and animal populations. The caves have signifcant human history from the pre-Columbian past to the recent colonial times.

The Conch Bar Caves are the largest sub-aerial (above water) cave system in the Bahamian archipelago and are apparently the only ones that "live" all year long. (Most limestone cave systems do not drip water in their interiors during the dry season, but the Conch Bar Caves continue to drip ground water and form speleothms year round.) The caves have characteristic cave features such as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone and pools. Water levels within the cave pools fluctuate at the same frequency as the nearby ocean tides, inferring a connection to the sea. The pools contain several endemic species of crustaceans and isopods. The Caves provide a roost and breeding habitat for four species of bats: the Buffy Flower Bat (Erophylla sezekorni), the Cuban Fruit Bat (Brachyphylla nana), Waterhouse's Big Eared Bat (Macrotus waterhousii) and Redman's Long-Tounged Bat (Monophyllus redmani). Another species, the Red Bat (Lasiurus sp.) is known to use part of the cave system for daytime flying as well.

The above ground section of the Park includes several ponds that are important wetlands, Village Pond and Buttonwood Pond, and their related dry forest habitats. Village Pond is a breeding site for the endangered West Indian Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna arborea) as well as White Cheek Pintails (Anas bahamensis), Clapper Rails (Rallus longirostris), Black Necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) and Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). The ponds are also commonly used by many species of herons and newly-fledged flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) regularly visit in the summer months.

Village Pond is dominated by the seashore rush grass (Sporobolus virginicus) and is flanked by stands of Marsh Fleabane (Pluchea symphytifolia) which attracts butterflies, bees and other pollinating insects.

The area also includes a portion of the ruins of the Loyalist Stubbs Plantaion. The caves retain evidence of pre-Columbian use and were historically mined for bat guano which was exported for fertilizer.

For more information on limestone cave formation, go HERE.


NR22 Vine Point (Man O' War Bush) and Ocean Hole Nature Reserve

NR17 North, Middle, and East Caicos Nature Reserve (International Ramsar Site)

General Description
An area of 243 square miles including significant wetland portions of North, Middle and East Caicos. For a complete description see the relevant legislation.

Features of Interest
A major wetland site of international importance. The whole area is a particularly good example of coastal wetland habitat and one of the largest remaining natural areas in the wider Caribbean. It is comprised of inter-related marine, coastal and terrestrial ecosystems and the complex natural transitions between them. These habitats include coral reef, lagoon, beach, saltwater and freshwater ponds, shallow sand banks, saline creeks, mangroves, saltmarsh, mud flats, caves, pineyards and tropical dry dwarf forest. The Reserve provides shelter and nursery locations for numerous organisms including typical, rare and endemic species of plants, insects, reptiles, birds and fish. The extensive mangroves and flats are important contributors of suspended material to nearby sand banks and coral reefs. The wetlands and shallow also provide protection for the dry land elevations against hurricane damage. The Reserve includes many interesting landscape features such as ponds (Mally Pond Slogh, Saw-grass Pond, three different Flamingo Ponds, Big Pond and Armstrong Pond), cays (Iguana Cay, Man O' War bush and others) and some beach, lagoon and coral reef areas. Parts of the channels between the large Islands are included as well as the unique Ocean Hole.

Plant communities include the seasonally flooded pineyards of Caribbean Pine (Pinus caribbea), mangroves, shrublands, several types of saltmarsh and tropical dry dwarf forest.

The Reserve supports internationally important populations of wetland birds including the vulnerable West Indian Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna arborea), Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), The nominate subspecies of the Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) and a large portion of the Cuban/Bahamian population of the West Indian Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber). Also present in significant numbers are the White Cheeked Pintail (Anas bahamensis), Black-Bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola cynosurae), Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), the Caribbean subspecies of Gull Billed Tern ( Sterna nilotica aranea) and 20% of the Americas breeding population of the uncommon Common Tern (Sterna hirundo). Of other birds, the following are endemic or of restricted range at the species or subspecies level; Cuban Crow (Corvus nasicus), Thick Billed Vireo (Vireo crassirostris), Greater Antillean Bullfinch (Loxigilla violacea) and the vulnerable Kirtland's Warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii).

Other internationally important species occurring in the Reserve include the following Turks & Caicos Islands endemic species of lizards and snakes; the critically endangered Gecko (Aristelliger hechti), the Curly Tail (Leiocephalus psammodromus), the Caicos Dwarf Reef Gecko (Sphaerodactylus caicosensis) and the endemic snake, the Caicos Islands Trope Boa (Tropidophis greenwayi). In addition there are three further lizards and a snake that are endemic at the subspecific level; the Turks & Caicos Bark Anole (Anolis scriptus scriptus), the Turks & Caicos Rock Iguana (Cyclura carinata carinata), the Mabuya Skink (Mabuya mabouya sloanei) and the Pygmy Rainbow Boa (Epicrates chrysogaster chrysogaster).

The Reserve includes major undisturbed cave systems which are likely to be internationally important for endemic cave invertebrates and for bats. (Several Antillean endemic invertebrates in the genera Kaloketos, Bahalana and others have been found in caves in other parts of the Caicos Islands. For more information on these, visit the listing for Cottage Pond Reserve on the North Caicos page.) The caves may also have high archeological interest.

The marine potions of the Reserve are the largest area of the Caicos Banks that within the Protected Area System and contain some unique features. Man O'War Bush is the main nesting location in the Turks & Caicos for the Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens). Ocean Hole, also cited within it's own Nature Reserve, is a 220 foot deep, quarter mile wide blue hole off the southern coast of Middle Caicos. Also included in the Reserve is an area of turtle nesting beach along the north shore of East Caicos. The Banks include sand, algae, coral rubble and patch reef habitat.These merge into the complex tidal creeks which are a regionally important foraging site for Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas).These shallow water areas are also locally important for Bonefish (Alba vulpes).
 


Indian Cave
Indian Cave is a single gallery cave with openings at both ends and a high ceiling opened by many solution holes. The hill in which the cave sits harbors a unique cave associated flora. Pitch Apple trees (Clusia rosea) dominate the hilltop, providing food for Cuban Crows (Corvus nasicus). Short Leaved Fig (Ficus citrifolia) provides food for a number of other bird and bat species. The giant Wild Pineapple (Aechmea lingulata) forms several dense stands along the hill sides. Vines including Jumbie Bean (Abrus precatorius), Bull Vine (Cissus intermedia) and Gray Nicker Bean (Caesalpinia bonduc) thrive in the moist microclimate created at the cave entrances. The southern Bahamas endemic euphorbia Monkey Fiddle (Pedilanthus bahamensis) is also common. This cave is an important feeding area for the bat species Macrotus and Erophylla ( see NP 4 Features above.). Barns owls (Tyto alba) roost in the open sided cave. Land Crabs including the Black Mountain Crab, Blue Land Crab and Hermit Crabs inhabit the cave floor and are preyed on by the Yellow Crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea).

There is archeological evidence that the cave was used by Lucayan Indians and the remains of extinct giant land tortoises and flightless birds have also been found in the cave sediments.

Crossing Place Trail

Mudjin Harbour

Haulover Plantation & Field Road