Ciénaga de Zapata

Situated on the southern coast of Cuba at Matanzas province, the Ciénaga de Zapata is the largest and one of the most important wetlands in the Insular Caribbean with a marine southern borderline and protected waters. This area is a cluster biosphere reserve with several core areas, highly valuable for conservation located in the Ciénaga de Zapata National Park. This reserve shows a great diversity of ecosystems and land cover types as grasslands, mangrove forests, Ciénaga forest, and semi-deciduous forest, evergreen coastal and sub-coastal forest; coastal and sub-coastal matorral, blue holes, and coral reefs with principal coral species and coastal lagoons. The area also supports a myriad of endemic species, including the last remaining populations of the Cuban crocodile, the Zapata rail, Zapata wren, and Zapata sparrow. It hosts some of the best populations of the Cuban endemic bee hummingbird – the smallest bird in the world (the male).