Soroa: The Orchid Heaven

The Soroa Botanical Orchid Garden, or simply the Soroa Orchid Garden, treasures the largest number of orchid species in Cuba. As many as 130 of them are endemic, while nearly 700 hail from elsewhere in the world. The place, nestled in a small valley next to the Manantiales River in the municipality of Candelaria, Artemisa province, has grabbed the National Heritage Preservation Award and is nestled on the outskirts of the Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve.

The garden was founded in 1943 at the initiative of a Canary Island-born lawyer named Tomas Felipe Camacho, a member of the Cuban Orchid Society —affiliated to the American Orchid Society and the Eastern Orchid Congress. Its 35,000 m2 in surface are devoted to the growing of orchids (it's home to over 10,000 today) both native and exotic, spread throughout living plants and nine shade houses, seven for orchid breeding, one for showcasing and one for plants on sale. Furthermore, they are unique species, highly protected by specialists in the facility.

In 1982, a laboratory was set up in the Soroa Orchid Garden aimed at studying and promoting the specialized cultivation. That way, research on this plant has increased lately, the environment is protected and ideal conditions are being created so that the facility can find stability as a Center for Science, Research, and Culture, cut out for the full enjoyment of local and foreign tourists alike.

Perched on a heavenly environment, there is no doubt this is the main attraction of Soroa's tourist resort, along with the awesome Soroa waterfalls, and the landscape of the Candelaria Valley.

THE ONLY ONE OF ITS KIND IN CUBA AND THE CARIBBEAN, THE SOROA ORCHID GARDEN HAS BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED AS NATIONAL HERITAGE DUE TO ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FIELD