Forests on the central karst axis.
The forests of the Cienaga de Zapata extend like a belt throughout the center of the peninsula and east of the Bay of Pigs to the vicinity of the Bay of Jagua.
In some areas, this forest massif grows on a relatively higher strip of karst towards the center and lower towards the edges. These slight differences in height determine that some areas are frequently flooded and that others do not directly receive the effect of floods.
In the areas near the swamp grasslands, there is a strip of swamp forest, made up of species that can live on flooded soils much of the time, including Júcaro de Ciénaga (Bucida palustris), Júcaro Negro (Bucida buseras), White Oak (Tabebuia angustata), Majagua (Taliparites elatus), Ocuje (Calophyllum antillanum), Guano Cana (Maritime Sabal), Palma Real (Roystonea regia), Bagá (Annona glabra), Icaco (Chrysobalanus icaco) and Arraigan (Myrica cerifera) . These species, in turn, serve as a substrate for others that take advantage of the humidity of the environment such as Curujeyes (Tillandsia fasciculata), (T. balbisiana), (T. flexuosa), Guajaca (T. usneoides), Angelitos (Tolumnia variegata) and Orchids of various genera, Encyclia, Prostechaea, among others.
As the karst rises with respect to the swamps, a transition is occurring where species that grow on soils temporarily flooded for a short time are more frequent, such as Guao de Costa (Metopium brownei), Guano Cana (Sabal maritime), Caoba Antillana (Swietenia mahagoni), Yaba (Andira inermis), until trees, tall palms and shrubs of species that live in soils where floods generally do not occur such as Soplillo (Lysiloma latisiliquum), Almácigo (Burcera simaruba), Ceiba (Ceiba pentandra), Baría (Gerscanthus gerascanthoides), Palma Real (Roystonea regia), Cana Jata (Sabal japa), Cedro (Cedrela odorata), Aguedita (Picramnia pentandra), China Root (Smilax domingensis) and Bejuco Leñatero (Gouania lupuloides).
To the south of the forests of the peninsula (Ciénaga Occidental), the area known as Campanario emerges; where we can see immense stone slabs placed with such disorder that they could only be removed by powerful earthquakes. This peculiar name is given by the fine sound of bells that walkers hear when their steps move the finest stone slabs, making them collide with each other.
In the Bell Tower the vegetation forms an open thicket (bushy and scattered plants), with dwarf-looking trees, the presence of orchids and curujeyes being common at the base of the trunks and the ground.
In places where the height of the Bell Tower decreases and a thin layer of soil has been formed by the accumulation of organic matter, it is very common to find scattered groves of Júcaro Espinoso (Bucida molinetii) whose trees, carved by nature, remind us of the bonsai with heights that do not exceed 50 cm.
The forested areas near the coast from the East of the Bay of Pigs to the Bay of Jagua, where the karst reaches several meters above sea level, are characterized by having plants resistant to the shortage of water and nutrients, winds marine and the salt particles that move in them; thus forming the xerophytic vegetation, with a predominance of plants with more or less small leaves, thick and with thorns, typical of semi-desert areas. Both where the Uva Caleta appears as a protective strip of the coastal zone, and where the vegetation is low and squat, many trees have their branches inclined in the direction of the wind, a phenomenon known as the "flag effect", and gives an appearance peculiar to these landscapes.
The ecosystems and landscapes of Zapata are so complex and varied in terms of composition and structure, that they have ideal sites for the refuge, feeding and reproduction of many species of fauna.
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