Protecting this region from climate change is a theme of the King’s trip and was the focus of his visit to the Bonefish Pond National Park. The site was once a rubbish dump but has been redeveloped and now protects 1,235 acres of mangroves.
The King walked along a new boardwalk through the wetlands to see the conservation work being done to protect this vulnerable, low lying island from climate change.
He met students carrying out field work in the wetland waters asking them about their exams and ambitions to be marine biologists.
“We’ve so been looking forward to this,” said Joanne Smith, president of the Bahamas National Trust Council.
“We want more Bahamians to get involved in our national parks so they can use it to better themselves… we are so pleased to have the King here, this is really significant for us.”
Then it was on to the Junkanoo, where the King could be seen dancing alongside attendees dressed in feathered headdresses and bright costumes.
The history of the Junkanoo is not clear but it’s believed it emerged out of the slave trade when enslaved men and women were given time off to mark Christmas.
A small protest near the parade, which had activists holding placards with the words “Pay us what you owe us”, was moved on by the police.
The small group of protesters were from the Bahamas National Reparations Committee.
The King acknowledged the “great suffering of the past” when he first arrived in the Bahamas, as he faced calls for slavery reparations.
Noelle Nicholls, chair of the reparations committee, said :”We are demanding an apology for those crimes, and reparations for the harm that was done.”
Nicholls said the protesters’ presence “amidst the pomp and pageantry of the celebrations… are for us also a sombre occasion, because this is the King returning in a way that has still not atoned for the sins of the past.”
The King has confirmed that Commonwealth leaders will discuss the legacy of slavery at a major summit in Antigua next week.
