Cuchillas del Toa

Cuchillas del Toa Biosphere Reserve encompasses approximately 208,305 hectares of the most species-rich and ecologically intact mountain forests in Cuba, located in the northeastern provinces of Guantánamo and Holguín. Designated by UNESCO in 1987, the reserve protects the rugged Sagua-Baracoa mountain range, which rises abruptly from the Caribbean coast to elevations exceeding 1,100 meters and intercepts moisture-laden trade winds that sustain the highest rainfall in the Caribbean insular region. The reserve contains the Toa River basin, Cuba's most voluminous river and one of the last undammed major river systems in the Caribbean. Cuchillas del Toa shelters the greatest concentration of endemic plant and animal species in Cuba, a country already recognized for its extraordinary biological endemism. The isolation of the Sagua-Baracoa mountains from the rest of Cuba by the Nipe-Cristal-Baracoa fault system has promoted speciation over millions of years, creating a biological island within an island. The reserve includes within its boundaries the Alexander Humboldt National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, along with several other protected areas of varying designation.