[:es]Cunagua Hill, Attractive Landscape of Central Cuba[:]

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Ciego de Avila, Cuba, Aug 9 .-The Cunagua Hill surrounded by a wide range of green trees is a protected area located to the northeast of this Cuban city and one of the most attractive natural sites for ecotourism in the region.

 

With a height of 364 meters over the sea level it is considered among the highest elevations of Ciego de Avila, one of the provinces of Cuba with a mostly flat land.

The hill stands out for its forest covered environment, where timber trees, fruit trees, reptiles and a great variety of birds live, many endemic and with some category of threat.

Although its flora and fauna was severely damaged by the winds of Hurricane Irma in September last year, today it shows a completely restored panorama, thanks to the action of the territory’s environmental technicians and specialists.

Several projects are being developed in the area aimed at maintaining and restoring the forests and repairing the trails and roads to make the entrance to the site more viable.

The programs are also focused on safeguarding the groves of cedar, majagua, almacigo, yagruma, sigua, ocuje, palm tree (national tree of Cuba), and jiqui, the latest one with few specimens because it is in extinction period.

Many of the actions are aimed at protecting a group of endangered Cuban peasant birds such as the cattle prodigy, the chinstrap, the guanaro and the partridge dove.

Belonging to the Ramsar site of the Great Northern Wetland of Ciego de Avila and the Buenavista Biosphere Reserve, the Cunagua hill stands out for its 40 varieties of orchids, a diversity of wild flowers, ferns and other ornamental plants.

It is also subject to a scheme of subsistence of the mountains, located near the access roads, to protect the area from fires, as it is a place of great affluence of people.

It is an ideal place for ecotourism, and is visited every year by hundreds of tourists from different countries, who come from the Gardens of the King resort to enjoy the fresh air in a very natural environment.

The interpretive trails: Los Tocororos and El Palmar de las Cotorras guide the visitor to the hidden beauties of this Cuban landscape and as they enter the woods they observe a group of wild birds including the tocororo (Cuban national bird), cartacuba, parrots, cattails, , the royal thrush and green and jabao woodpeckers.

Likewise, in the aquachales of nearby areas, specifically in the southern part of the hill, in the El Venero Wildlife Refuge, there is the second largest colony of cranes on the island, one of the most lamatic birds in the Cuban countryside.

Cunagua is an aboriginal word which means flower of water, besides, it was the name of the chieftain of an indigenous tribe who lived in that part of Cuba.

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