Layou residents call for good roads to the Petroglyph Park

Layou residents are begging for the road leading to the Petroglyph Park to be addressed, as its deplorable state is said to be the cause of significant declines in tourist revenue.

Workers at the site shared with SEARCHLIGHT, that in the first five years after the site opened, the Layou Petroglyph Park had seen a good number of visitors, whether it may be local, international or regional, but with the deterioration of the road fewer people are visiting the site.

Residents in the area shared their frustration concerning tourism in the area.

Layou Petroglyph

“How they want tourists to drive up here when they have to be ‘julking’ and ‘julking’…we need a proper road and then we can talk about tourism,” one person said.

“You don’t see tour vehicle and so coming here, hardly. It’s really, really terrible… going up here…People don’t want to bring their vehicle up here… tourists wouldn’t like to come up here.”

The degradation of the road was said to be the result of constant transportation of stones on trucks to and from the quarry that is located above the petroglyph site.

Though many complaints were raised on the issue, residents reported that no real progress has been made.

“They do assessment, they mark out…and nothing happens,” one resident explained.

Residents explained that workers visited the area and threw gravel on the road to improve it, but the situation worsens whenever it rains.

The workers assured that the site itself has received very good attention from the National Parks, Rivers and Beaches Authority, but not many tourists visit the site.

The Layou Petroglyph Park is home to the best known, and the most easily accessible of St Vincent’s petroglyphs. The large boulder was believed to have been created between 300 and 600 AD.

The site also features green vegetation and wildlife such as iguanas, photographs of petroglyphs that are island wide including: Barouallie, Yambou Pass and Indian Point.

The park is co-managed by the Layou Heritage and Tourism Organisation.

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