DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Jaragua National Park

Jaragua National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Jaragua) is a national park of the Dominican Republic. Jaragua National Park is located in Pedernales Province in the extreme southwest of the Dominican Republic.

Jaragua National Park has an area of 1374 km² (905 km² of which are marine), with coordinates from 17"28'N to 17'58'N and 71'16'W to 71"44'W, making it the largest protected area in the Caribbean region.

Jaragua National Park was established by Presidential Decree No. 1315 on August 11, 1983, and was named after a Taíno region. The park is represented by the Hispaniolan dry forests ecoregion. Spanning the southern slopes of the Baoruco Mountain Range from Oviedo to Cabo Rojo, Jaragua National Park includes dry forest, mangroves, and scrub, as well as land and marine habitats.

Beata Island (Isla Beata), Alto Velo Island, Bahia de las Aguilas and Lago de Oviedo (noted for its diverse bird life) are part of the park.

Jaragua National Park is the perfect place for ecotourism due to its incredible terraces and Dominican wildlife.

Jaragua National Park is located in southwest Dominican Republic. Its borders are the same as Xaragua’s chiefdom, which is one of the Taíno territorial divisions where it is possible to find a series of caverns that contain Taíno pictograms.

Some of the park’s caverns are El Guanal, La Poza and Mongó. They contain a huge number of pictograms and petroglyphs. The park has also lots of pre-Columbian archaeological sites, the most ancient one dating from 2590 B.C.E.

The park is formed by marine terraces and coastal plains. The wildlife is mainly composed of 130 bird species (10 of them are endemic) that inhabit the park’s 1374 square kilometres.

In addition, is an important reserve for solenodons and hutias, two endangered terrestrial species, and for Antillean manatees that found their nourishment in the park’s marine grass areas. Bottlenose dolphins can be usually observed near Alto Velo Island.

The vegetation that covers those terraces is mainly composed of seagrape, mahogany trees, guayacán, oaks and guzábara, but cacti can also be found in some of the cays.

It is the perfect place for ecotourism due to its incredible landscapes, thus nature lovers and daredevils would enjoy this destination and its most interesting areas, like the Laguna de Oviedo and Bahía de las Águilas (Eagles’ Bay), which are very attractive spots because of the landscapes’ beauty.