The “Bat Cave”
Another tourist attraction…
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
.jpg) |
|
THE “Bat Cave”, located at Keys Village
|
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE “Bat Cave”, located at Keys Village, is on its way to becoming a full-fledged tourist attraction; thanks to local tour operator and owner of the Big Banana Safari Tours, Michael Bridgewater.
Bridgewater, also known as ‘Michael B’, spoke with SKNVibes and explained that resultant of unforeseen circumstances he was forced to kick his inventiveness into high gear.
“A few months ago I was at a meeting, and in that meeting taxi drivers were complaining that the Safari was taking a piece of their pie.
I did not have permission to do island tours so I was really sitting down on that idea.
A few weeks ago I went to another meeting and I was given a contract stating that I am allowed to conduct island tours.
Because of the first meeting, I decided that I needed to find other avenues. I am undertaking another tourist site to add to what we have. The name of the site is the ‘Bat Cave’ and it is located at Key’s Village…I started cleaning it up.”
SKNVibes visited the area and found that the overgrown shrubbery was removed making room for fixtures and fittings, which would enable the site to be listed among St. Kitts’ tourist attractions.
Bridgewater told SKNVibes that since conceptualisation of the project, he has made contact with representatives of the Ministry of Tourism and the Traffic Department. These persons, he explained, are important to the process of making the “Bat Cave” another certified tourist attraction.
“… I invited Dianille Taylor and Randolph Hamilton to come and have a look at the site.
I also had a talk with head of the Traffic Department, Inspector Venetta Wyatt, about the possibility of putting some sort of measure in place whereby persons approaching the area would know that they should slow down.”
The entrepreneur explained that his next move is to continue preparing the area in which he would implement a number of measures to ensure tourists’ safety.
“The next is to continue cleaning the area by removing the vegetation that was cut down and the placement of a driveway so that taxis carrying tourists can pull off to the side and have a look at the bat cave.
I am going to build a platform where you can actually stand and look into the cave; then I am going to get about 10 helmets which the tourists can wear as a safety measure.”
Having put much thought into the initiative, Bridgewater told SKNVibes, “I already have the plan and the process outlined, but it going to take me some time and some money.”
When the process of transforming the “Bat Cave” into another of St. Kitts’ tourist attractions, Bridgewater informed, other potential tourist attractions would be looked at with a view to converting them into additional tourist attractions.
News 
