The most southerly and the third-largest island of The Bahamas, flat Great Inagua, some 64km (40 miles) long and 32km (20 miles) wide, is home to 1,200 people. It lies 527km (327 miles) southeast of Nassau.
This is the site not only of the Morton Salt Crystal Factory, here since 1800, but also of one of the largest nesting grounds for flamingos in the Western Hemisphere. The National Trust of The Bahamas protects the area around Lake Windsor, where the birds breed and the population is said to number 80,000. Flamingos used to inhabit all of The Bahamas, but the birds have disappeared from most other places. The reserve can be visited only with a guide. Besides the pink flamingo, you can see roseate spoonbills and other bird life.
Green turtles are also raised here, at Union Creek Reserve, and then released into the ocean to make their way as best they can; they, too, are an endangered species. (Tours of the reserve are not well organized, and the operation is very informal, but if you're here, inquire about getting a look.) This vast windward island, almost within sight of Cuba, is also inhabited by wild hogs, horses, and donkeys.
Matthew Town is the chief settlement on the island, but it's not of any great sightseeing interest, although it has an 1870 lighthouse. Other locales have interesting names, such as Doghead Point, Mutton Fish Point, and Devil's Point (which makes one wonder what happened there to give rise to the name).
Little Inagua, 8km (5 miles) to the north, has no population and is just a speck of land off the northeast coast of Great Inagua, about 78 sq. km (30 sq. miles) in area. It has much bird life, though, and there are also wild goats and donkeys.
