La Visite

Declared in 1983, La Visite protects one of the last significant fragments of native pine forest surviving in Haiti, a country that has lost the overwhelming majority of its original forest cover — estimates put current deforestation above 98% — through extreme demographic pressure and a historic dependence on charcoal as household fuel. The park, reachable only after a demanding walk of several hours from the town of Kenscoff, near Port-au-Prince, is home to the Hispaniolan hutia, one of only two native land mammals still surviving on the whole island after the extinction of practically all of its original land fauna.