BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – STILL in the midst of an eight-year-long financial battle and following an equally-long hiatus, the Nature’s Kingdom located at St. Peters reopened its doors last Friday (June 1); but the threat of permanent closure and even imprisonment of its operator looms.
In 2002, Claudius ‘De Nature Man’ Collins opened Nature’s Kingdom – a zoo-like entity which featured a number of animals, some of which have their origins in Africa - and had facilitated tours for school children and tourists.
Approximately two years after, “the Kingdom” - as he refers to it - was destroyed during the passage of a hurricane and efforts to rebuild it were retarded when another hurricane struck causing even more damage and closure.
“I have been going through a lot of difficulties for the past eight years. The Kingdom has been down and there has been a very great demand for it to reopen, especially from the students and the teachers who have been there over the years, and who know exactly what the kingdom is all about and how important it is for the school and also for tourists.
“I have been struggling with the Nature’s Kingdom, financial stress, labour, the bad conditions of the roads and it has been taking me a lot of years trying to please the teachers and students who meet me every day and ask about the Kingdom.”
In its former glory, Nature’s Kingdom – Collins told this publication – boasted of a number of exotic species including three ostriches and also featured 11 horses, 10 donkeys and, according to Collins, “Nature’s Kingdom was the pride of the area”.
Financial Assistance
Following the first hurricane, Collins said he approached a banking institution for assistance and was granted a $26 000 loan. But further difficulty – especially with regard to repayment of the borrowed sum - came after the second hurricane struck.
Realising that he was in dire straits, and realising the value of the Kingdom to the youth of the nation, Collins said he reached out to the Ministers of government seeking their assistance in returning it to an operational state.
De Nature Man said he also reached out to high-ranking individuals attached to the banking institution to visit the Kingdom and assess the situation for themselves. However – as he explained – none of his invitations was heeded.
“I borrowed some money from the bank to try and help me back up. And I have been begging and begging for them to please come and see how they could help me back. I went to Ministers also. In fact, just before Friday, I invited all the Ministers of government, singlehandedly, one by one, to please come and see the Kingdom to take a look and see what I intend to do and how they could help me bring it back up.
“I need help, real help, financial help, especially because I have more animals to feed and now it is more difficult. And doing all these things, I work merely for $200 per week. So I work once per week on Saturday by selling the cane juice. For the past two months, the most money I ever made is $270 per week. Sometimes I go home with nothing because the rain keeps washing me out on Saturdays, and once that happens I can’t sell anything because nobody is coming.”
The passionate Nature Man – who resides at Nature’s Kingdom - said the money he makes is pumped back into it and noted that he survives on the yield of the fruit trees grown there.
“Sometimes, the little money I make is used to buy some food for the animals just to keep the Kingdom. Because the Kingdom is very fruitful and a lot of fruit trees are there, I mainly survive by eating the things of the Kingdom. I don’t eat bread, meat, cake and all these things. So it helps me to take the money I make to feed the animals. It is difficult but, for the first 10 years, this is the first time I feel like a millionaire without a ha’penny.”
The Reopening
His love for nature was realised or developed while a student at the then Molyneaux Primary School. And when he was finally able to reopen Nature’s Kingdom on June 1 this year, he thought it best to invite students from that school which was renamed the Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary School.
“I decided I am going to fight my way alone as a lonely soldier to get it back to what it was. I was very pleased when I realised I reached to a position where I could reopen it and invite some students.
“The tour was great! It is when I see the children back in the Kingdom and how happy they were, I felt like I was on top of the world especially when they spent three and a half hours and when asked if they were ready to go, they said no. I felt like I was in Zion.”
Arrest Looms
Because Collins has defaulted in repayment of the loan, the matter was taken before a court of law and was set to be heard – as he explained – on April 1, 2012. He however explained that there was a misunderstanding concerning the date, and he appeared on April 6 and learnt that he was fined in absentia.
“So I went for the judgment and when I saw it…it said $1 000 from the end of February and if in default one month in prison, every month. Now if you look at a judgment like that, this judgment is to send me away for life for $26 000 to help the nation’s children. If I default this month and I go to prison, where am I going to find $1 000 to pay again? And when I come back, where am I going to find another $1 000 again?
“Last week the secretary for the lawyer said, ‘Claudy, you know that you default?’ and I said I know because there was a lot of rain these last days and I just don’t have any money and it is difficult for me to make $100 and give it to the bank because I have to eat still. She said they can’t help and they would have to send the warrant.”
Collins said he asked for one week to take the primary school children and “to make up my mind to go to jail…because I don’t have a choice”.
“Once, I don’t have $1 000 every month to give to them and two, why should I go to jail for life every month for $26 000 when I was trying to help educate the nation’s children about our nature and environment?
“I don’t have a car, I don’t have a house, I don’t have anything. They don’t see me partying, I don’t even have clothes. So it is not to say that I abused the money. I wanted the people at the bank to come to the Kingdom so bad to see all the cages. All the animals are hanging from trees because the cages are damaged. I have been struggling.”
For the past 27 years, Collins said he has occupied and tilled that portion of land on which the Nature’s Kingdom sits - which he estimates to be in excess of two acres in size - and though he has approached a number of individuals and entities with a view to securing the deed for the land, he has been unsuccessful.
Collins told SKNVibes that his struggles as it relates to the Nature’s Kingdom have been many and with a prison term hanging over his head and with him not receiving the assistance he needs, he fears the Nature’s Kingdom may have to close again…this time, indefinitely.
