Los Haitises National Park

Los Haitises National Park is one of the Dominican Republic's most extraordinary protected areas — a vast wilderness of towering limestone mogotes (haystack-shaped hills), dense tropical rainforest, intricate mangrove channels, and caves adorned with ancient Taíno petroglyphs and pictographs.

The park's name comes from the Taíno word "haitís," meaning highlands or mountainous land. Covering over 1,600 square kilometers along the southern shore of Samaná Bay, it's a biodiversity hotspot home to over 700 plant species, 110 bird species, and several endangered animals including the Hispaniolan hutia and rhinoceros iguana.

Most visits to Los Haitises are by boat, weaving through the mangrove channels and stopping at key sites:

• Mangrove forests: Navigate through cathedral-like channels of red, white, and black mangroves
• Cave of the Line (Cueva de la Línea): Features Taíno petroglyphs carved into the walls — spiritual symbols and animal figures
• San Gabriel Cave: Dramatic cave with ancient pictographs and geological formations
• Limestone mogotes: Hundreds of emerald-covered hills rising from the water, creating a surreal landscape
• Bird watching: Look for frigatebirds, pelicans, herons, and the endangered Ridgway's hawk
• Cayo de los Pájaros: "Bird Island," a nesting site for numerous seabird species