Sandvoort resident determined to make village a tourist attraction

Rather than having a vast landmass just sitting there, overgrown by bushes, farmer, Reginald Collins is hoping to transform the place into a tourism site, a camping ground with many trees.

Collins has lands where he resides and is the last house in the village and his investment is private between himself and children.

The Nature Camp Site will be the perfect getaway for people seeking that kind of recreation and the area is being developed.

The land has been sprayed for all pests and is being prepared for planting trees and the other things needed to beautify the grounds to make it acceptable for a nature park setting.

Collins told the Pepperpot Magazine that the place will have washroom facilities, camping ground with 40-vehicle parking and he will also promote local Canje Creek tours via boats.

The father of six added that it is a four-acre plot that will be converted into the camping site especially for tourism purposes and within the next few years, the development will take place where cash crops will be planted too.

Collins is a farmer and has 50 acres of farmland where he is cultivating citrus and cash crops but due to the recent flooding, he lost millions when floodwaters destroyed his crops.

The 50-year-old would journey till to West Coast Demerara to purchase plants for his undertaking and will make his nature park resort a reality.

“This project will run for five years before it is fully done and after trees are planted and the land developed, cash crops cultivation will also take place so people can camp out with their gears among many trees, plants, out in the open air,” he said.

Collins stated that in addition, 2500 fruit trees will be planted on the grounds of the campsite and once the weather is good, things will happen.

Terrence Fraser accessing the backlands via horseback
Meanwhile, Terrence Fraser, a farmer who was coming on out the backlands from his farm via horseback, told the Pepperpot Magazine that he lost seven cows due to the excess water on the land and had to build a dam to save his crops of rice and cash crops.

He said they need drainage upgrades urgently because the water is coming in on the farmlands via the creek rapidly.

“I have 900 plantain trees underwater that cannot be saved and it is difficult to bounce back from such a loss,” he said.

Fraser stated that they build roads and streets in the village through self-help, but that is not sufficient, so added assistance is needed.

Recently they made his street with burnt bricks because it was a dam and now they can use it.

Fraser, like most farmers, suffered a lot of loss because their crops are underwater and there is nothing they can do and they still have cows in the backlands with nowhere to relocate them.

He explained that water is too much in the farms and it is not easily accessible, so he would go via horseback because he has to tend to his cows and check on his rice and cash crops.

“This flooding here is a natural disaster; we not blaming anyone at this point because we didn’t know this would happen but at least come and access the situation and see how best we can deal with the situation,” he said.

Fraser said the kokers have no doors and the water is pouring in at an alarming rate in the backlands.