Destination: Cuba

LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL ITINERARY INFORMATION

Itinerary: Bird-Watching Cuba

TWO TO THREE WEEKS

With your binoculars polished, sally forth into the verdant Valle de Viñales, where, with a bit of patience and the help of the locals, you can catch glimpses of Cuban Bullfinches or chirpy Cuban Peewees.



The Península de Guanahacabibes has virgin beaches and dense flora that attracts everything from tody flycatchers to migratory ruby-throated hummingbirds. Don’t overlook the Sierra del Rosario Reserve where it’s possible to spot up to 50% of Cuba’s endemic birds, including elusive carpinteros. The Gran Parque Natural Montemar is a huge protected area encompassing Cuba’s largest wetland. Wait around for a few hours (or days) and you might see zunzuns – the world’s smallest bird. In Topes de Collantes keep an eye out for the bright red, white and blue Tocororo (Cuba’s national bird), then venture into Cayo Romano to get a look at some of the island’s 30,000 flamingos.

La Hacienda la Belén Reserve near Camagüey promises glimpses of Cuban Parakeets, Giant Kingbirds and Antillean Palm Swifts. While the journey might be long and the hiking arduous, no Cuban birding adventure is complete without a visit to the almost-virgin Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt for viewings of Cuban Amazon parrots, hook-billed kites and – unlikely but not impossible – ivory-billed woodpeckers last spotted here in the early 1980s.