Pic Macaya National Park

The Massif de la Hotte in the southwest holds the last substantial block of cloud forest in Haiti, and Pic Macaya at around 2,347 metres is its high point. What makes the massif matter beyond the country is its amphibians: the mountain range carries one of the densest concentrations of endemic frog species recorded anywhere on earth, many of them found on this massif and nowhere else, several described only in the last few decades. The forest itself has been cut back hard at the edges, and what survives is the interior.

What you actually see

• The cloud forest - wet montane forest on the upper slopes, mossy and often inside cloud.
• The pine zone - Hispaniolan pine on the drier ridges below the summit.
• The endemic frogs - Eleutherodactylus species found on this massif alone, heard far more than seen.
• The summit ridge - Pic Macaya at around 2,347 metres, the second highest point in the country.

When to go

December to March is the drier window and the practical season for walking. The upper forest sits in cloud a great deal of the time in any month, which is what keeps it wet. Nights on the ridge are cold.

Honest expectations

There is no visitor infrastructure: no marked trails, no huts, no signage. Everything is arranged with guides from the gateway villages and involves camping. The track from Les Cayes is rough and the last stretch is walked. Deforestation has pushed hard against the park boundary and the walk in passes through cleared ground before any forest.

Nearby

Les Cayes is the gateway city, and Saut-Mathurine is on the same side of the massif.