Turquino National Park on the west region of the Sierra Maestra

Turquino National Park is located in the center west region of the Sierra Maestra and it occupies territories belonging to the municipalities of Guamá, in Santiago de Cuba province and Bartolomé Masó, of Granma, where its administrative address resides. This national park completes the important mission of preserving one of the conserved better mountainous ecosystems of Cuba.

In an extension of 23 208 terrestrial hectares and two marine, the Turquino National Park has a half characterized by great endemic and wide presence of species of the flora and the fauna.

In this Park they are the highest mountains in Cuba: Real Peak of the Turquino with 1 974 m.s.n.m., Suecia Peak with 1 734 m.s.n.m. and Cuba Peak with 1 872 m.s.n.m. The ascension of anyone of these summits is an exciting and only experience that provides the excursionist the contact with the wild nature of the area, where they stand out the fauna and the vegetable formations very well conserved.

To be located in the main heights of country, this area presents abrupt changes of the meteorological variables. In summer the temperatures of the air oscillate from the 30 grades, in the costs, up to the 16 in the heights. In the winter they have descended to five grades in Turquino Peak, Cuba Peak and Aguada de Joaquín.

When the climate has normal behavior, it is frequent to observe cloudy almost the whole year in the superior elevations and intermittent fog on the floor after the a thousand meters that give a touch of singular beauty to the landscape. The biggest precipitations appear from the 600 to 1 900 meters high and the annual average of days of rains historically has been between 70 and 140, area of high behavior of that indicator.

In the north slope of the park the rivers are born Yara, Santana of the Maestra and Arroyo Naranjo, and in the south the rivers Tio Pedro, Turquino, La Plata, Jigüe, Palma Mocha (Blunt Palm) and the streams Las Cuevas (The Caves) and Cabreras.

The flora reveals a wide endemismo and, of the representative one, they grow among other Majagua, Azulejo (tile), Copal, Júcaro, Cuaba and Pine of the Maestra. As threatened species they are present: juniperus saxicola, prothium cubensis, tabebuia oligolephis, talaumaminor and magnolia cubensis.

The fauna is prodigal and among the birds they are reported around 80 species. Of the mammals the jutías conga and calabari object of the stealthy hunt stand out during many years.

The visits to the place are organized coordinately with their administration and Flora and Fauna of Granma. Who go there they have the obligation of completing numerous regulations, among them, it is forbidden to smoke, to create noises, talar, to hunt and to fish, the journeys for paths should be carried out to feet accompanied by the official guides and never in superior number to 20 people.

From their creation in the year 1991 and it stops domestic pride the Turquino National Park it carries out a fundamental activity in the preservation of an attractive and very preserved ecosystem.