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The
Viñales Valley
One
of Cuba’s greatest natural attractions, was declared
a National Natural Monument for its remarkable landscapes.
The valley has a surface area of 132 km2 and is a part of
Sierra de los Organos, in Pinar del Río province. It
is the finest example of a karst valley in Cuba, where mogotes,
knolls with rounded tops and steep slopes, contrast harmoniously
with the flat surface of the valley where they stand.
Deep in the valley bottom you find cultivated lands-mainly
tobacco, taro and bananas-and scattered peasant houses, all
forming a rural landscape of great beauty.
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The
surrounding sierras abound in caves, making it an area of
speleological interest. Outstanding among them are Cueva del
Indio, a cave which San Vicente River runs through, and Cueva
de José Miguel. Further west, the Santo Tomás
cave system, criss-crossed by 45 km of galleries, is one of
the largest in Hispanic America.
The
flora is an important element in Viñales. Cuban endemic
plants found there include: the ceibón tree (Bombax
emarginatum), palmita de sierra (Thrinax microcarpa), cayman
oak (Ekmanianthes actinophylla) and a kind of palm tree (Mycrocycas
calocoma)-a living Jurassic fossil that can only be found
in a small area of Pinar del Río.
There
are also many endemic animal species, especially birds like
hummingbirds, the Cuban trogon (Priotelus temnurus), tody
(Todus multicolor), mockingbird (Cuban solitaire) and a small
paserine bird that inhabits pinewoods.
UNESCO
The
Viñales Valley has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage
List since November 1999 as a cultural landscape enriched
by traditional farm and village architecture. Old-fashioned
farming methods are still used in Viñales, notably to grow tobacco. The local population
is an ethnic mix that illustrates the cultural development
of the Caribbean and Cuba in particular.
Source:
Report of the 23rd session of the World Heritage Committee,
in Marrakesh, Morocco, 4 December 1999.
UNESCO |
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