About Parque Nacional del Este

The Parque Nacional del Este Situated in the southeastern corner of the island of Hispaniola, close to the tourism resorts of Bavaro, Punta Cana, Bayahibe, La Romana as well as Juan Dolio. Therefore, Parque Nacional del Este receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, 95% of who come to enjoy the beautiful white sand beaches of Saona Island that comprises nearly one quarter of the park’s land area. Meanwhile, the park receives more visitors annually than all of the other Dominican national parks combined.  It protects and conserved an enormous wealth of Dominican natural, archeological and human history.  The terrestrial portion the National Park of the East is composed of rocky terrain covers by dry and moist forest distributed over a limestone peninsula, which contains an extensive system of caves, overhangs and sinkholes, some filled with freshwater.  During pre-Columbian times this area of the island of Hispaniola was the most densely populated by indigenous people; therefore, some caverns of this karst landscape are richly adorned with globally significant ancient pictographs, petroglyphs, and archeological remains.

In addition, Parque Nacional del Este is the largest and best remaining example of a lowland Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forest, seeing that much of this habitat type in the Caribbean has been cleared, which provides an excellent opportunity for the Conservation and protection of an intact terrestrial and marine-coastal ecosystems that provides habitat for hundreds of species of plants insects, spiders, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.   

The biodiversity of this important protected area is composed by more than 10 kinds of forest communities have been identified within the park area, which included 572 species of plants, 53 of them are endemic species of the island. The birds include more than 163 species, 9 of which are endemic to the island and 11 endemic to the Caribbean region.  One mangrove species provides important nesting areas for the endangered white-crowned pigeon (Columba leucocephala), and for the largest island colony of the American frigate bird (Fregata magnificens).  Other important species include the Hispaniolan parrot (Amazona ventralis), red-footed booby (Sula sula), herring gull (Larus argentatus), and the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinis). 

The majority of Hispaniola’s mammals are represented within the park.  The Hispaniolan solenodon (Solenodon paradoxus) and the hutia (Plagiodontia aedium) are both endemic and threatened with extinction; however, the caves are habitats for several species of bats as well.  Other endangered species include the Caribbean manatee (Trichechus manatus). The reptiles are represented by 26 species, 6 species of snakes, and 10 species of lizards with 17 endemic species. Some of these species are the logger-head turtle (Caretta caretta), green turtle (Chelonia mydas), and hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).   In addition, there are rhinoceros iguanas (Cyclura cornuta), the amphibians are composed for 7 species and 6 of them are endemic. The invertebrates are represented mostly for insects, spiders, and crabs. So far and according to the faunistic inventory, there are more than 1000 species of insects (beetles, butterflies, crickets, ants, grasshoppers, etc.), 75 species of spiders, including the big hairy spider, Tarantulas, Scorpions, Tailless whip scorpions; the Crustaceans included 7 species with 3 species of crabs, the mollusks are represented by 17 species included the king conch (Strombus gigas)

The marine waters around the peninsula contain fine examples of mangroves, sea grasses, and coral reefs—the common marine habitats of the Central Caribbean marine ecoregion.  As well as the terrestrial area, the marine ecosystem of the park has a highly diversity of species of fishes, coral, algae among many other marine species. In turn, these natural communities provide habitat for abundant marine resources utilized for human consumption, like conch, lobster, grouper and snapper.  In addition to the terrestrial biodiversity that the forest shelters, Parque del Este’s intact watershed ensure that the adjacent marine resource do not suffer from sedimentation, hyper salinity and other afflictions that marine areas suffer from after their watersheds have been damaged. Three human communities are located in the surrounding area of the park, Bayahibe (West side), Boca de Yuma (East side), and Saona Island in the South, which is a community of about 400 people currently living within the park.

 
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For hiking tours in recommended to start at 7:00 AM

Things to Remember:
Leave only your footprints carry all trash out with you,
Avoid walking of designated trails
Do not collect plan or animals
Do not damage the vegetation, caves of other feature of the park

Due to Parque Nacional del Este is located closed the of the Dominicus-Bayahibe-Romana area as well as its accessibility, most of our EcoTours or nature tours are focused in this important protected area. Therefore, the EcoTours can be made in a half of day or whole day depending of your interest and kind of tour; however, if you are staying in any hotels at Punta Cana, Bavaro, Juan Dolio, even Santo Domingo, I can pick you up an take to the park. I offer the following Ecotours:

• Guaraguao – Cueva del Puente Ecotours

• Bayahibe – Saona Island Ecotours (download brochure by clicking here)

• Boca de Yuma – Cueva de Bienvo and Cueva de Berna EcoTour

• Bayahibe – Cueva de Panchito EcoTours

In addition, I can prepare a combo EcoTour, which combine marine and terrestrial Ecological Tours. For instance, if you one to visit in the morning the hiking trail Guraguao-Cueva del Puente and in the afternoon we can visit the mangroves area and the Natural swimming pool at Las Parmillas for snorkeling and swimming. Also, we can include lunch if you want at a local restaurant and beach buffet.

I strongly recommend such tours! More inform please, just contact me by clinking here