Lake · Saint Kitts and Nevis
Great Salt Pond
The Great Salt Pond is a body of salt water on the Southeast Peninsula of St Kitts, in the Caribbean. Mangroves and dry bushes grow around it, and many water birds visit it.
Picture credit: Anne and David (Public domain) · Richie Diesterheft (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Great Salt Pond?
Countries on its shores: Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Middle of the lake: 17.24° N, 62.65° W
The story behind it
The Great Salt Pond lies on the Southeast Peninsula of the island of St Kitts, in the country of St Kitts and Nevis. It covers about 180 hectares, which is about 1.8 km². It is often called the largest lake in the country. But the Great Salt Pond has been joined to its western neighbour, the Little Salt Pond, and the Little Salt Pond has been opened to the Caribbean Sea. So today the Great Salt Pond is really more like a bay of the sea than a lake. Around its shores grow dry bushes, mostly succulents – plants that store water in their thick leaves and stems – and patches of mangroves. The area is an Important Bird Area, a place that matters a lot for birds. Herons, plovers, sandpipers, stilts and even hummingbirds can be seen there. On Turtle Beach, on the same peninsula, huge leatherback turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.
Find it on the globe
Great Salt Pond is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is the Great Salt Pond?
The Great Salt Pond covers about 180 hectares, which is about 1.8 km². It is often called the largest lake in St Kitts and Nevis.
Is the Great Salt Pond still a lake?
Not really. It has been joined to the Little Salt Pond, which is open to the Caribbean Sea, so today it is more like a bay.
Which animals can you see there?
Many birds, such as herons, plovers, sandpipers and stilts, so the area is an Important Bird Area. On Turtle Beach, on the same peninsula, leatherback turtles lay their eggs.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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