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Have you ever gazed out from the plaza in Altos de Chavón and admired the mountains in the horizon? Perhaps you have simply admired their mysterious beauty with it’s blue peaks, ridges and high plateaus, or perhaps you have wondered what and where they are?
This beautiful view is the Cordillera Oriental mountain range, or the Sierra El Seibo as it is commonly known among the people of the East, which is how it was labelled on maps of the Dominican Republic from the nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. This magnificent view Cordillera Oriental is best enjoyed from the Dye Fore golf course, or the Altos de Chavón plaza; but it can also be appreciated from the Autopista del Coral highway to Punta Cana.
And yet the Cordillera Oriental mountain range is not just beautiful to look at, it is a fundamental part of the microclimate of the Eastern Region of the Dominican Republic. It is thanks to these mountains that here in La Romana and Casa de Campo we enjoy a constantly pleasant temperature, and lower rainfall than in other areas of the country. They also play a crucial role in the balancing of cloud and moisture formation, causing the rain that makes this area so fertile for agriculture and especially for growing sugarcane.
The Cordillera Oriental mountain range begins in the Sanchez Ramirez province (Cotuí) in the west and stretches about 80 kilometers to the east, dividing the eastern plains exactly in half, into two coastal plains, one north and one south.
The easiest way to travel through it is by taking a trip to El Seibo; from there, one can keep going on a motor vehicle, as well as in horses, or just do a walking tour through the dense rainforests that populate the ridges of the mountain range. It is an experience like no other.
The profiles that are quite visible from Casa, are those of Lomas Los Corozos, Loma Vieja, Loma La Altagracia, Loma Nalga de Maco, Loma de La Vaca, Loma Limon, Loma La Ceibita, Loma del Grumo and Loma Cuey, among others; all of them filled with flora and fauna, most of which is composed of citrus trees, cocoa and cattle pastures. “Loma” for those of you wondering means hills in Spanish.
An incredible view from Montaña Redonda in the Cordillera Oriental
The Cordillera Oriental does not reach Cabo Engaño – the easternmost point of the island (the Bavaro / Punta Cana area). Actually, it ends approximately 40 miles before reaching it, near the junction of the road that leads to Higüey, Macao Beach and Miches, where the mountain range goes into the Atlantic Ocean, and actually connects the island of Hispaniola with Puerto Rico from underwater.
At its western end, which is to say eastern Cotuí, we find a ‘carsic’ topography (the name comes from its resemblance to the carsico plateau in Italy near the border with Yugoslavia, near the Northern Adriatic Sea), and refers to an area consisting of low hills with lush vegetation and a limestone-composed terrain.
This carsic region in the Monte Plata and Hato Mayor provinces is known as ‘Los Haitises’ . It is rugged, as heavy rainfall dissolving the limestone has done a good job of eroding it. Being a riverless surface, drainage is channelled underground.
The most important rivers originating in the Cordillera Oriental and flowing south are the Higuamo, Soco, Chavón (the one passing below Altos de Chavón) Yuma, Cumayasa and Dulce. The most important ones in the North are the Yabón, Nisibón, Maguá, Jayán, Stud and Maimón.
The vegetation, which once used to be moist and wet forests, has almost entirely been replaced by crops and plantations, mainly coffee, cocoa, cattle pasture, citrus fruits, and small fruits, such as mango, papaya, and squash. It is rich in minerals, especially amber and lignite, but gold can also be found scattered throughout the area
It’s definitely worth venturing out this summer to this gorgeous paradise that nature provides, free of charge, and, best of all, fairly close to Casa de Campo.
Here at Casa de Campo Living we’ll be bringing you our adventures into the Cordillera Oriental very soon! In fact the above gorgeous pics were taken on a recent visit to Playa Limón, Laguna Redonda and Montaña Redonda… more about that soon!