Sierra del Escambray

Sierra del Escambray

The Sierra del Escambray is a mountain range in the central part of Cuba, located in the provinces of Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos and Villa Clara. The highest peak of the mountain range, Pico San Juan, reaches 960 meters above sea level. The Topes de Collantes is a nature reserve created in the south-eastern part of the mountain range. The big attraction here is nature: caves, rivers, waterfalls, canyons, natural pools filled with crystal clear water, mountain hills surrounded by the national flower of Cuba, the mariposa. More than 40 native orchid species and 100 fern species are found here, as well as wild plantain and banana trees, jasmine, begonia, many members of the ginger family, and some 40 coffee species growing in the shade of 40-metre-high giant pines, eucalyptus, West Indian mahogany and magnolia trees. Important species such as the Cartacuba, the Cuban Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, rare hummingbirds and the Tocororo, Cuba's national bird, live here. The Valley de los Ingenios, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was formed at the southeastern foot of the mountain range. The Valley of the Sugar Mills, is a series of three linked valleys located about 12 kilometers from the city of Trinidad. San Luis, Santa Rosa and Meyer, the three valleys, were centers of sugar production from the end of the 18th to the end of the 19th century. In the heyday of the Cuban industry, more than fifty sugar cane mills operated in the three valleys, and more than 30,000 slaves worked in the mills and on the surrounding sugar cane plantations.