At the far western tip of Cuba, the Reserva de la Biosfera Península de Guanahacabibes protects a zone of precious semi-decidious woodland and mangroves and the wildlife that lives there. The willowy peninsula narrows down to the tip at Cabo San Antonio, where a recently opened hotel — Hotel Villa Gaviota Cabo San Antonio — makes exploring this remote region easy. Compulsory guides can be hired for hikes along trails that lead to caverns and dramatic seascapes. A similar environment is protected within Área Protegida Sur del Isla de la Juventud, harboring crocodiles, deer, wild pigs, and the endangered Cuban crane. EcoTur, in the town of Nueva Gerona, arranges tours, including to Cueva Punta del Este — caves containing remarkable pre-Columbian pictographs. Parque Nacional Desembarco del Granma, at Cuba's very southeast tip, is a virtual carbon copy yet made more dramatic by its dramatic landscape stairstepping in orderly terraces from the shore to the Sierra Maestra.



When thoughts turn to mountain hiking, they usually turn to the Sierra Escambray or Pico Turquino. One of my favorite spots is Reserva Ecológico Alturas de Banao, a mountain retreat accessed from the village of Banao, 20 kilometers west of Sancti Spíritus. The sheer, barren, whisky-brown crags seem to belong in the Scottish Highlands. With Campismo Planta Cantú as a base, you can explore four separate ecosystems rich in birdlife. A highlight is the rugged hike to Comandancia del Guerrillero Heróico, Che Guevara's former guerrilla headquarters deep in the mountains near the hamlet of Gavilanes.

Another guerrillo hero, Camilo Cienfuegos, is honored at Monumento y Museo Camilo Cienfuegos in the agricultural town of Jaguajay, in Sancti Spíritus province. Banao can be combined with an exploration of Parque Nacional Caguanas, north of Jaguajay. This national park is currently in development and protects coastal swamps, mangroves, semi-deciduous forest, and offshore cays teeming with iguanas and birdlife. With luck you'll get to see Cuba's largest colony of endemic cranes. And more than 35 caves are adorned with pre-Columbian paintings.

Still, if it's remote cays that you're seeking, follow me to Cayo Sabinal, a sea-girt, sun-bleached wilderness attached to the mainland of Camagüey province by a hair's-breadth isthmus. I first rode out there on my motorcycle in 1996. The road of hard-packed coral seemed to float above the waters of Laguna de los Flamencoes, a precius mirror reflecting gawky flamingos tiptoeing around in hot pink. I passed a few bohíos belonging to soot-stained carboneros (charcoal burners). These isolated, hospitable people eke out an austere livelihood axing mangrove. They pointed the way to Playa Los Pinos. Tough going in the soft sand, so I stood on the foot pegs and cranked the throttle to give the bike some oomph and ran in third gear with the power on, letting the engine's torque do the work.

Playa Los Pinos was the most beautiful Cuban beach that I'd seen. Pristine, too. The silence was absolute, save for the muffled drown of the surf breaking on the far-off reef. Cuba through the eyes of a conquistador. My — and your — only option was a homespun cabana made of palm trunks and mangrove roots, with thatch for a roof. It had a rough-hewn bed and a simple bathroom with a cold-water shower. My folksy homes was one of five such cabanas attached to a bucolic beach bar with chairs of sunbaked cowhide and walls of woven palm festooned with fishing nets and grinning shark jaws. When I ordered lunch, a rowboat pulled up and a young man dressed in swimming trunks jumped out and held up the lunch menu: a huge lobster in one hand and a large incarnadine snapper in the other.

Another of my favorite off-the-beaten-track spots is Sitio Histórico Birán, about 60 kilometers southeast of Holguín. Here, Fidel Castro was born on August 13, 1926 is a handsome two-story home tucked within a cops and overlooking a serene lake surrounded by pasture and canefields. "The house was made of wood," Castro told Brazilian theologian Frey Beto in Fidel: My Early Years, giving the impression of a primitive property. "No mortar, cement or bricks." In truth, it's a surprisingly substantial house: the home of a well-to-do rural patriarch. In 2002, duly restored, the finca (farm) opened to the public as a National Historic Site run by the Council of State. Security is heavy, and an armed guard will accompany you as you're shown the graves of Castro's parents; the simple schoolhouse that Fidel attended; and the huge main house, where Fidel's personal affects include his baseball glove and basketball, and the crib in which he was supposedly rocked as an infant (actually, evidence suggests baby Fidel lived his first few years in poverty with his mother — the family housemaid).

Almost every part of the island offers opportunities for taking a walk on the wild side. In fact, so much diversity is sprinkled like pirate's treasure across Cuba's 1,200 kilometer length that it's enough to bring out the Indiana Jones in anyone.