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Cuba hopes green tourism can keep it in the black

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-18 11:02

A man holds a four-year-old crocodile on his shoulder at a breeding center at "La Boca" in the Zapata Swamp Biosphere Reserve Park south of the Matanzas province in central Cuba September 17, 2009. The wetlands of Cuba represent about 4% of the island's territory and include habitats with unique and ideal vegetation for numerous organisms such as manatis, crocodiles, fish and turtles, many resident and particularly migrant birds and numerous endangered endemic species. [Agencies]

Constanze Walsdorf, a saleswoman for Aventura Tours in Freiburg, Germany, which offers about 15 environmentally friendly trips to Cuba, said business has remained brisk despite Europe's moribund economy.

"There's a lot of interest," she said, "and it's growing."

Cuba ranks among the world leaders in low greenhouse-gas emissions, but not necessarily by choice. Government restrictions on vehicles ensure that horse-drawn buggies outnumber cars in all but the largest cities.

A narrow highway runs alongside the marshes and is flanked by monuments to Cubans killed during the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961.

Almost no Cubans live in Zapata, but there are tourist hotels, including bungalows perched on tiny islands in the wetlands. Speedboats take visitors through densely forested canals and lagoons where eagles glide overhead - but the vessels leave a layer of oil runoff on the water.

Still, officials will cap group sizes so that hiking expeditions and other activities don't overwhelm the nature they come to see. Parts of the national park will remain off-limits entirely for their own protection.

Back at the crocodile farm, all the reptiles are separated by size and kept in crowded concrete pens - breeding is the top priority, not constructing an idyllic spot for tourists. The largest lay with their mouths agape to cool themselves, so still that they look like scaly statutes except for haunting yellow eyes that follow visitors hungrily.

When trainers toss in fish heads and crab legs at feeding time, the resulting frenzy is so violent that any injury drawing blood can prompt the pack to turn on one of its own. Crocs that bite down but don't capture any food in their jaws produce a spooky popping sound - a hollow puckering that sounds practically prehistoric.

Crocodiles can live to 80, said farm director Andres Arencibia. Females lay up to 35 eggs per year with three-quarters of those born in captivity reaching adulthood. In the wild, only 15 percent survive, beset by predators, disease and cannibalism.

Crocodile breeding began in 1962, when the animals were endangered. Now, about 6,000 live in the swamps around the farm, and about 300 adults are released into the wild from it each year, Arencibia said.

Holding up a wiggling and writhing No. 0383, he smiled when the pointy-toothed tike emitted a crow-like squawk.

"Give him some months," Arencibia said, "and his bite could take my fingers off."

Cuba hopes its eco-tourism industry will grow just as fast.

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