Cayo Saetía sits in the Bay of Nipe, the largest bay in Cuba, a vast and sheltered body of water on the northeast coast of the east, between the province of Holguín and, in part, its surroundings. This deep, well-protected bay has been a place of great importance throughout history. Its calm waters and its port capacity made it a key point for trade, especially for the powerful sugar industry that developed in the region during the 19th and 20th centuries, with large mills and docks.
The Bay of Nipe is also linked to the founding legend of Cuban faith. According to tradition, it was precisely in these waters where, in the early 17th century, the famous 'three Juans' found the small image of the Virgin of Charity floating, which would become the patron saint of Cuba, venerated in the sanctuary of El Cobre. That connection gives the bay a symbolic and spiritual dimension that goes beyond the geographic.
In this historical and natural setting lies Cayo Saetía, a cay of several square kilometers with a surprisingly varied landscape: forests, open grasslands, mangroves and a jagged coast with coves and little beaches. That diversity of environments, uncommon on a cay, would be the key to its singular destiny in the 20th century, when it was decided to transform it into something very different from any other place in Cuba.
The most singular chapter in Cayo Saetía's history was written in the 20th century, when the cay was set up as an exclusive hunting reserve and park. Taking advantage of its varied landscape of grasslands, forests and hills —which in part recalled a savanna—, numerous species of exotic wildlife were introduced, brought from Africa and other latitudes: zebras, antelopes of different kinds, ostriches, buffalo, deer and other animals, plus local wildlife. The aim was to create an environment for big-game hunting and wildlife observation in a closed, controlled natural setting.
The introduced species found favorable conditions on the cay: a warm climate, abundant vegetation and the absence of natural predators, which allowed them to acclimatize and breed. Over time, Cayo Saetía filled with wildlife unusual for the Caribbean, grazing freely over its grasslands facing the sea, forming a landscape as strange as it was fascinating: that of a small 'African savanna' on a Cuban island.
The use of the cay as a hunting reserve, restricted to a select public, marked much of the 20th century. That stage explains the presence of the animals that are today its great attraction and the relatively isolated, exclusive character of the place. Hunting, however, would not be the cay's final destiny: with the change in sensibilities toward nature and the rise of ecotourism, Cayo Saetía would undertake a transformation that would use that same wildlife legacy in a very different way.
Over time, Cayo Saetía changed its vocation. Hunting gave way to ecotourism, and the cay reinvented itself as a nature destination where the wildlife that was once prey became the center of a photographic and observation 'safari'. Today visitors tour the grasslands by jeep or on horseback not to hunt, but to spot and photograph the zebras, antelopes, ostriches and other animals that live in semi-freedom, in an experience that combines the surprise of seeing exotic wildlife with the beauty of the island setting.
To that main attraction was added the use of the cay's other values: its small pristine beaches and coves of white sand and turquoise water, its mangroves and the chance to sail the great Bay of Nipe and snorkel. The tourist offering was kept deliberately discreet —a villa-type lodging with cabins and excursions— to preserve the tranquility and natural character of the place, avoiding the crowds of the big resorts.
Thus, Cayo Saetía has established itself as a different destination within Cuba: an enclave where the Caribbean and the 'savanna' coexist, where the history of a hunting reserve has been reconverted into a nature experience, and where the traveler can, on the same day, watch zebras grazing and take a swim in a solitary cove. Its history, marked by the introduction of exotic wildlife and by its later ecotourism turn, makes it one of the most curious and memorable corners of eastern Cuba.
Cayo Saetía cannot be understood without its surroundings: the region of Mayarí and Banes, in the northeast of Holguín province, an area with deep historical roots in eastern Cuba. Important aboriginal communities settled here before the conquest —Banes is one of the great Taíno archaeological sites in Cuba—, and later the region experienced the boom of the sugar industry, with large mills linked in part to U.S. capital that dominated the eastern economy in the first half of the 20th century, before the 1959 Revolution.
That same northeast coast, with its beaches and its climate, was chosen decades later as one of the hubs of Cuba's tourist development: the Guardalavaca and Playa Esmeralda area, not far from Cayo Saetía, concentrates all-inclusive resorts that receive international travelers. In that context, Cayo Saetía found its place as a nature and adventure complement: an excursion or short-stay destination that offers something the big resorts don't have, the wildlife safari and the pristine coves.
Managed largely by the state tourism group Gaviota, specialized in nature tourism, Cayo Saetía is promoted today as a singular experience within eastern Cuba's offering. Its history —from an exclusive reserve to an ecotourism park— reflects, on a small scale, the transformation of an entire region that went from sugar to tourism, seeking in its nature and heritage a new source of life. The challenge, as in so many Cuban enclaves, remains reconciling the arrival of visitors with the preservation of the setting that gives the place its value.