Dominican Republic

Special Offers

Endemic Mammals of the Dominican Republic Tour February 24, 2024
£518 – £2065

Our wildlife holidays, wildlife tours and safaris of Dominican Republic are listed below:

The Caribbean is known for many things, white sandy beaches, turquoise waters, palm trees, cocktails and music. But few people realise that many of the islands (particularly the larger islands) still harbour large tracts of wilderness which is home to some of the world’s most unusual as well as endangered species.  As a result many of the mammals and a lot of the birds and reptiles are endemic to individual islands and this is very true for the Dominican Republic.

The Caribbean islands have been isolated from the mainland and from land bridges (the exception being Trinidad and Tobago) for millions of years. This means that any animals that have made it to these islands has either drifted on the sea, flown over or was here when the sea levels rose and the islands became separated. This isolation for a huge amount of time has resulted in some of the highest incidences of endemism in the world. Most of this is in the form of plants, birds and reptiles. But the Caribbean also has a nice collection of mammals of which nearly all are (or sadly were) unique to the islands. By teaming up with the world’s leading expert of the mammals of Hispaniola and in particular the solenodon we want to try and see this species as well as other species of bird, mammal and reptile on this incredible island.

Being the second largest island in the Caribbean (behind neighbouring Cuba) Hispaniola (separated into Haiti in the west and Dominican Republic in the east) has large populations of two endemic mammals and several endemic birds and reptiles. The main mammal attractions here are the Hispaniolan soldenodon and the Hispaniolan hutia; there used to be 2 species of solenodon here as well as 5 species of hutia, but hunting, dogs and habitat destruction have all contributed to their extinctions. Aside from being some of the rarest animals in the world, which face huge pressures from a growing human population they are also very unusual in their biology and incredible hard to find.

As for the bird life there is no less than 31 endemic species and with reptiles there are two native iguana species including the critically endangered Ricord iguana.

Join one of our wildlife tours to the Dominican Republic and become one of the few people ever to have seen the Hispaniolan solenodon and hutia ever!

All these tours are available on other dates (subject to availability) than the dates listed. Please contact us to arrange a tour on a date which suits you.