We had stopped off on the way back from our snorkelling expedition in la cueva de los peces where we'd swum in a real mangrove swamp surrounded by tropical fish. The Cuban Crocodile Farm was one of the 2 or 3 things in the area that our guidebook said were worth a visit and so we jumped in a taxi and headed straight there.
The crocs are all in chicken wire pens with a distinctly green pool of water to cool off in and a sheet of corrugated iron propped up to provide shade. It was HOT... hence the shirt I'm wearing to cover my arms and neck; when you're so white you're practically transparent, protection comes before posing for pictures anyday.
The enclosures gradually got bigger as we made our way through the farm passing swamps full of butterflies and crabs picking through the mud in their burrows.
We reached the last enclosure to find an absolute monster of a croc snoozing in the shade:
The Guamá Crocodile Farm was definitely something I'm glad we visited; even if only to hold the baby crocodile, but the "educational" side of the tour was definitely a let down. After paying a few dollars we were pointed in the direction of the crocodile enclosures and left to get on with it. There was a room full of memorabilia such as model eggs and stuffed crocs but you couldn't get in and had to peer through the barred window.
It was something of a last minute decision to head there in the hottest part of the day and if I have any advice for you it's to not do what we did! Crocs overheat easily and are very inactive at this time as they need to stay still to keep cool so most of what we saw were piles of sleeping crocodiles. I think a visit would be much more comfortable and exciting in the early morning when the crocs are basking to warm up.
Have you ever been to a crocodile farm? How did you find it? Comment below!
