On the Dominican Republic’s southeastern coast, near Bayahibe, this 300-square-mile UNESCO World Heritage site spans both land and sea. As you snorkel or row a glass-bottom boat out to one of the three islands in the reserve—Saona (a turtle nesting site from March through November), Catalina, and Catalinita—be on the lookout for bottlenose dolphins, manatees, four species of sea turtles, and, from January through March, humpback whales. You can also hike the Sendero del Padre Nuestro trail to explore caves filled with well-preserved Taino pictographs, or try to spot some of the 144 bird species that call the park home, from white-headed doves and red-footed boobies to barn owls and Hispaniolan parrots. There’s even a frigate bird colony at Bahia de las Calderas.
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Explore the Wild Dominican Republic
Parque Nacional del Este (National Park of the East) is located in the La Romana Bayahibe area, which makes it easy to explore from Punta Cana. The park has been a national nature reserve since 1975, and features postcard-perfect beaches, lush tropical forest, a dry forest that was once the spiritual home of Taino Indians, and the famed Saona Island—one of the country’s best diving locations, but also a notable beach bum chill zone. The small village of Mano Juan on Saona Island offers a glimpse at what life is like in rural Dominican Republic; most of the men here make their living as subsistence fishermen, though today tourism is the second-largest employer in the area.
The island is also home to an important turtle sanctuary; from March through November the critically endangered hawksbill turtle (alongside leatherbacks and greens) lands on the beaches to lay eggs. You can volunteer to work with local naturalists and biologists from the turtle sanctuary to collect eggs and deliver them to the turtle hatchery, where each little reptile will be given a slightly better chance at survival before being released back into the wild.
