ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT Located in the northern part of Guantánamo and Holguín Provinces, in eastern Cuba, this park covers an area of 59,400 hectares. UNESCO has declared it to be a part of world natural heritage, for the flora and fauna here exhibit the greatest biodiversity in the country and this is the largest remaining mountain ecosystem in Cuba.
This park has tremendous values: both biological and in terms of physical geography, this is the region in Cuba with the greatest precipitation (up to 134 inches [3400 millimeters] a year) and largest river (the Toa). The climate and the fact that this is an old mountain range are the main factors that have given rise to a group of ecosystems that are unique in Cuba, with distinctive flora and fauna.
The park contains 16 of the 28 plant formations to be found in Cuba: three Cuban rain forest formations; low cloudy forests; shrub woods; Pinus cubensis pine woods; mesophyll evergreen forests; semi-deciduous forests; gallery forests; microphyll evergreen forests; coastal xeromorphic thickets; thorny xeromorphic thickets on serpentine (cuabal); mangrove thickets; and complexes of sandy, rocky and hillock coastal vegetation. Such diversity of formations doesn’t exist anywhere else on the island. The area also contains the highest percentage of endemic species (between 70 and 80 percent) in the country, more than 150 of which are locally endemic.
The fauna have been less studied, but there are large, well-structured communities. Moreover, the area is the final refuge of two endangered Cuban species of vertebrates: solenodons (Solenodon cubanus), primitive insectivorous mammals that are considered living fossils, and Cuban Kites (Chondrohierax wilson).
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ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT Many mountains rivers and streams, which come rushing down to the sea, form an enticing natural setting to which historic and cultural elements contribute their own attractions.La Farola -the road leading to the city- will whet your appetite for adventure. Baracoa, located in the easternmost part of Cuba, has become one of the top tourist attractions in the province of Guantánamo. |
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BARACOA The best tobacco in the world is grown in Pinar del Río, Cuba’s westernmost province. In addition, it has particularly beautiful scenery, making it an ideal setting for ecotourism—for example, in the Rosario Mountains, at Soroa, in the Valley of Viñales and at San Diego de los Baños.
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