• Submitted by: manso
• Travel and Tourism
• 06 / 21 / 2011

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By: Alicia Sosa Velázquez. Witness of tectonic movements happened in this area of the province, The Ballenatos arise among the waters of the Nuevitas´ bay. They are three islands that look like small whales, seen from the highest part of the city.

Their reliefs are typical of emergent areas, cliffs are observed, with prints of the presence of the sea, even in their biggest heights, in which prevail marine fossils of snails and corals.

In these islands you can observe carsic processes that originate cracks, grottos and niches  made of  calcareous rocks. Tropical vegetable formations prevail in which stand out the swamps, dry forests or of coastal xeromorphic thicket and those always green micrófilos; they are the hurricane type with compact formations, to counteract the effect of the strong winds that prevail there almost the whole year.

The ¨Ballenatos¨ have been declared protected area in the fauna refuge category, due to the values that store, among them, a local, showy and strange sub-species, the Anolis Jubar Ballaenarum, a small lizard with crest. Also stand out there populations of iguanas (Cyclura nubila nubila) and insects and the aquatic and migratory birds that nest there.

To be considered as an area of high ecological fragility with a rich biodiversity, given by their geologic characteristics and the eolic and coastal processes that are observed and for the natural beauty that accompanies them, these small islands are the biggest pride of the Nuevitas´ inhabitants. They are known as ¨Ballenato del Medio¨ - the highest, with 54 meters over the level of the sea -,the Big and the Tiny.

Source: http://www.radionuevitas.icrt.cu/ingles/