August, 2024.- The search for alternatives to spend a different day with family and friends, and a direct exchange with nature, led to a unique experience for residents of the Camagüey municipality of Nuevitas.

- This time the trip is for the Los Cocodrilos River!" reported the most enthusiastic of the group, via WhatsApp.

Since then, messages for reservations to this destination located about 10 kilometers from Minas  began to circulate, meanwhile, dissimilar criteria were expressed about the possible presence of reptiles in the area where bathers go swimming.

So those who had not visited the site left their fear at home and packed their curiosity in the baggage.

Once arrived at the expected destination in the well-known zoo-breeding-place, belonging to the Company for the Protection and Conservation of Flora and Fauna, the operator Yasmany Rodriguez Fernandez, with 13 years of experience, welcomed visitors and during the tour of the facility showed specimens of different ages, while answering every question.

FROM FEAR TO COURAGE  

From the first cages where the youngest specimens are kept, the specialist extracted one and, after taking measures to prevent unwanted incidents, offered the possibility for vacationers to touch, hold and take pictures with the reptile under supervision.

Some people more than others decided to perceive the texture of that little body of scaly appearance and less than a meter long.

CLEARING UP DOUBTS

-Are there crocodiles in the river," asked a local woman.
 
-No attacks of any specimens have been reported there, however, at the mouth of the river, in Mola, there is a protected area where these reptiles are less aggressive and move free, and as they are not used to see humans, their reaction is to hide, specified the operator.

-How long has this breeding-place existed?

-It was the third of its kind in Cuba, approximately 35 years ago.

-How many crocodiles do you have in this conservation area?

-The figure ranges from 1,200 to 1,300.

- What is the largest size?

-It reaches four meters in length and has about 34 years of life.

- What strategies do they adopt to maintain the species?

-Well, the first thing is that a crocodile can lay up to 60 eggs a year, which are taken to the incubator of this facility, where they remain for three months, and it is there that the hatchling are taken out.

On the other hand, taking into account that by providing the eggs with 25 to 27 degrees the hatchling is born male and 27 to 30 degrees females, and that a male can mate with up to eight females, the specialists intend to obtain female crocodiles.

AFTER THE PATH, THE RIVER

During the stay on the river, the sun hardly made itself felt because the vitality of the abundant flora prevented it from accompanying the outsiders.

In terms of fauna, there were bibijaguas, lizards, birds, and even a tench and a shrimp in the water.
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The experience was wonderful, as expressed by most of the group of vacationers, so the invitation to Los Cocodrilos, which welcomes the public every day of the week from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is worth accepting again and again, as it is one of the best offers for nature tourism and environmental awareness.