Essequibo’s Hog Island is larger than many Caribbean islands

Aug 06, 2023 News

O’ Beautiful Guyana!

Kaieteur News – The mighty Essequibo River shares its golden waters with 365 islands, but the largest of them all is Hog Island.

An aerial view of the Hog Island Windmill (PC: National Trust of Guyana)

Speed boats ferry visitors to Hog Island

Footpath that leads to the island (PC: Rajkumar Singh)

The beautiful sunset scenes on the island was captured by Amit Sankar and Jay Sanasie

A glimpse of Hog Island as seen through the walls of the famous windmill (PC: Rajkumar Singh)

Villagers enjoy cooking a meal outdoors on the beautiful island (PC: Nazelene Hussain)

A section of farmland on the island (PC: Nazelene Hussain)

Hog Island is located approximately 5 kilometers from the river’s mouth in its estuary into the Atlantic Ocean. Interestingly, this island has a total area of 60 square kilometers, making it larger than many Caribbean islands.

Hog Island- not Hogg Island- is home to just about 200 persons, according to information received, though most of its population has been migrating to other parts of the country. The island has its own Primary School with villagers engaged mostly in rice and ground provision farming.

Hog Island was named by the Dutch; they called it ‘Varken Eiland’. Varken translates to ‘hog’ or ‘pig’ in Dutch, while eiland means ‘island’; since many wild hogs were found on the island, it got its name. After the country came under the rule of Great Britain in 1803, the British name, ‘Hog Island’ was adopted.

Hog Island is popularly known for its historic windmill that was utilized on sugar estates during the colonial days in Guyana.

According to the National Trust of Guyana, the Windmill is located on the eastern side of the Island, approximately 14.5 kilometres (9 miles) from the mouth of the Essequibo River. The structure was said to be built since 1768.

According to the state body, tasked with preserving su

ch pristine national sites, the Hog Island Windmill was built on Plantation Luyksberg and was 11 metres (36 feet) in height and sat on a 1.8 metre (6 feet) high mound.

The remains of the windmill were discovered by a group of University of Guyana students visiting the Hog Island area on an off-campus training exercise back in 1977.

The National Trust has since conducted rehabilitation works of the windmill, transforming the area into a visitor friendly heritage site.

To get to Hog Island, one must travel through Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and join a speed boat at the Parika Stelling. Speed boats at the Supenaam Stelling in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) also transports visitors to the island.