A bus (destination Westpunt) leaves Otrabunda at 7am and every 2 hours thereafter. An early start is recommended but you will get hot and sticky anyway so the 9am bus may be most practical. This had the advantage, for us at least, of avoiding a large party of schoolkids who had presumably come by private bus. We met the crowds coming down and enjoyed the summit in solitude. Also avoid Sundays when the number of buses and by implication the number of visitors is doubled.
At the visitor centre is a map of the trail. This starts by undulating through the forest and the mountain soon appears as shown in the first picture. Beyond a parking area the real climb begins. Colourful lizards dart into the scrub in all directions. To the untrained eye by far the most spectacular plants are the red centred Bromeliads. A couple of clearings provided with benches give retrospective views across the trees. Towards the top the climb steepens abruptly and the well marked way winds up amongst rocks with a few awkward steps aided by conveniently situated trees, their trunks worn smooth by many clutching hands over the years. The route finishes up a rocky rake which emerges somewhat dizzily above the trees and you realize how far you have climbed. In a few moments you are at the summit, an area of large rocks, one crowned by a trig point, with views across the forest to the coast in all directions. Because this hill is so much higher than everything else the prospect can hardly be called spectacular.
There is now little choice but to reverse the route of ascent but beyond the carpark we followed the vehicle route marked on the map as 'short cut'. Since vehicles can only use these tracks if accompanied by a ranger they are not overcrowded. in fact we met only lizards and a beautiful black and yellow bird which we later identified as a Golden Oriole. This route took us amongst some of the giant cacti which are characteristic of the area and the final picture shows the mountain from this road.
Also worth a visit is the tourist board site Curaçao - Christoffel Park