The Los Tocones Iguanarium is located on the road to Bahía Rincón, in the small town of Los Tocones, it is managed by a local NGO called Sociedad Ecológica Los Lacios and those who are in charge of maintaining the establishment.
In a small town with less than 10,000 inhabitants, is the Iguanarium of the same name, located in Las Galeras, a municipal district that depends on the municipality of Santa Barbará de Samaná on the Samaná Peninsula in the Dominican Republic, protected by the inhabitants of this place and where a large number of rhinoceros iguanas coexist; a species that can measure from 60 to 130 cm long.
They are people from the same locality, who receive tourists and show them the facilities. Within the space where the reptiles live and reproduce there are several dozen iguanas of the endemic species commonly known as the rhinoceros iguana (Cyclura cornuta), also, associated with the Iguanarium, you can see conucos where local crops are grown, such as cocoa or coffee.
Visitors are charged a small contribution as an entrance fee, as a contribution to defray the expenses involved in keeping the facilities properly organized and providing food for the numerous iguanas that grow in the different enclosures that make up the Iguanarium.
In addition, it is estimated that this is a unique place in the world, since it has achieved the reproduction of this species, keeping it in captivity, and because there are not many that reproduce annually, it is necessary to maintain them in this way and take care of them, to avoid the extinction of one of the unique species that you can enjoy in the Dominican Republic.
The Iguanario de los Tocones reserve survives thanks to the help of those who visit it, the local inhabitants and the contribution of organizations that dedicate funds to maintain the ecosystem in danger of extinction.
To find out about other interesting places in the Dominican Republic, follow us at visitadominicana.com
How to get to Los Tocones Iguanarium: CLICK HERE!