Ten kilometers northwest of Baracoa is the third-longest river on the north coast of Cuba and the country's most voluminous. The Toa is also an important bird-and-plant habitat. Cocoa trees and the ubiquitous coconut palms are grown in the Valle de Toa. A vast hydroelectric project on the Río Toa was abandoned after a persuasive campaign led by the Fundación de la Naturaleza y El Hombre convinced authorities it would do irreparable ecological damage; engineering and economic reasons also played a part.
The Rancho Toa is a Palmares restaurant reached via a right-hand turnoff just before the Toa bridge. You can organize boat or kayak trips here for CUC$5 to CUC$10 and watch acrobatic Baracoans scale cocotero (coconut palm). A traditional Cuban feast of whole roast pig is available if you can rustle up enough people (eight usually).
Most of this region lies within the Cuchillas Toa Unesco Biosphere Reserve , an area of 2083 sq km that incorporates the Alejandro de Humboldt World Heritage Site. This region contains Cuba's largest rainforest, with trees exhibiting many precious woods, and has a high number of endemic species.
