Baconao Park is a large park region, about 60 kilometers away from the city of

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains ...

, with a total surface of .

History

The name Baconao is related to the name of a little native who lived in the south of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

during the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

period. Legend mentions a magical tree, called ''bacona'', that allowed the child to play music from the lagoon's

snails A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

. This little Cuban was known for his fishing and swimming skills, as well as playing ''Batos'' (Cuban original baseball game). The child used to sit under the ''bacona'' tree to play music from his snail. Everybody in the village was fascinated, and thought that the ability to play the music was a gift from the magical tree. Therefore, they began to call the child ''Baconao''. One day, the young boy left the village for a trip, and never came back. The villagers believed that the child's magic returned to the trees, and as time passed, the whole area got the name ''Baconao''. In 1987, it was declared a World Heritage Biosphere Reserve by the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Baconao Biosphere Reserve Information

Attractions

The park contains a variety of attractions beside

wildlife refuge A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

s and coffee plantations. ;Great Rock (Gran Piedra) The Great Rock is a large rock of

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

origin, measuring long, high, and wide. Its estimated weight is more than 63 thousand

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s. It is possible to climb 459 stone steps to the summit of the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, and stand 1,234 meters above sea level for a

panoramic view A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

. It is said that on a dark night one can see the lights of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. ;Prehistoric Valley In the Valle de la Prehistoria visitors encounter

dozen A dozen (commonly abbreviated doz or dz) is a grouping of twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive integer groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the Moon, or months, in a cycle of the Sun, or year ...

s of life-size model dinosaurs sculpted in

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

and other prehistoric creatures lurking in lush vegetation. ;Farm (Granjita Siboney) The farm is the place where the attackers of the

Moncada Barracks The Moncada Barracks was a military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, named after General Guillermo Moncada, a hero of the Cuban War of Independence. On 26 July 1953, the barracks was the site of an armed attack by a small group of revolutionaries ...

''(Cuartel Moncada)'' led by Fidel Castro, spent the night prior to the attack on 26 July 1953. ;Botanical Garden There is also a garden, called ''Jardin Ave de Paraiso'', dating from 1860, that was laid out on a former coffee plantation and features a series of colour-coded gardens with unique

scent An odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their sense ...

s and displays in each. ;Museum of History of Terrestrial Transport The museum displays over 2,500 small-scale car replicas. ;Aquarium The aquarium is deep, and has a submarine tunnel, and a Dolphinarium. ;Baconao Lagoon The lagoon has an area of . There is also a reproduction of a

Taíno The Taíno were a historic indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the pri ...

Village, and a restaurant specialized in seafood.

References

External links

DTCuba
– Baconao Park {{Authority control Biosphere reserves of Cuba Parks in Cuba Nature conservation in Cuba Santiago de Cuba Protected areas established in 1987 1987 establishments in Cuba Geography of Santiago de Cuba Province Tourist attractions in Santiago de Cuba Province Dolphinariums 20th-century architecture in Cuba