Laguna de la Restinga is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

on the Isla Margarita,

Nueva Esparta The Nueva Esparta State (in Spanish: ''Estado Nueva Esparta'', ), is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. It comprises Margarita Island, Coche, and the largely uninhabited Cubagua. The state has the smallest area, and is located off the northe ...

state, Venezuela. The main part of the park is a large salt lagoon, rich in fish and birdlife. It is on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance, and is classified as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

Location

The park lies between the eastern part of Margarita island and the

Macanao Peninsula The Macanao Peninsula is a geographic peninsula landform, that forms the western end of the Isla Margarita in the Caribbean Sea, in northern Venezuela. It is also a Venezuelan municipality, the Municipality of Macanao Peninsula (''Municipio Pen� ...

, which are connected only by a thin bar, or strip of land. The bar stretches more than from La Guardia on the main island to Punta Tigre on the peninsula. The park was created by government decree on 6 February 1974, and initially covered an area of . It features a saline lagoon fringed by mangroves and holding large mangrove islands, with of channels. The shallow lagoon is separated from the sea to the north by a bar of sand and sea shells. To the south a broad channel connects the lagoon with the sea. The west coast is rocky, with cliffs and small beaches. The climate is arid or semi-arid, with mean annual temperature of and mean annual precipitation of .

Flora

The park is in Venezuelan Dry Forest biogeographical province. Inside the lagoon there are mangrove forests covering containing red mangrove (''

Rhizophora mangle ''Rhizophora mangle'', the red mangrove, is distributed in Estuary, estuarine ecosystems throughout the tropics. Its Vivipary, viviparous "seeds", in actuality called propagules, become fully mature plants before dropping off the parent tree. Th ...

''), black mangrove (''

Avicennia nitida ''Avicennia germinans'', the black mangrove, is a shrub or small tree growing up to 12 meters (39 feet) in the acanthus family, Acanthaceae. It grows in tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, on both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, ...

'') and of white mangrove (''

Laguncularia racemosa ''Laguncularia racemosa'', the white mangrove, is a species of flowering plant in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae. It is native to the coasts of western Africa from Senegal to Cameroon, the Atlantic Coast of the Americas from Bermuda and ...

''). The sandbar has buttonwood mangrove (''

Conocarpus erectus ''Conocarpus erectus'', commonly called buttonwood or button mangrove, is a mangrove shrub in the family Combretaceae. This species grows on shorelines in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Range Locations it is known from inc ...

'') and various types of grass. The land surrounding the saltwater is covered by

xerophyte A xerophyte (from Ancient Greek language, Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or pl ...

s. The semi-desert tropical climate supports thornwood and shrub forest.

Fauna

The lagoon, at most deep, is home to red snappers, gruntfish, sardines,

swordfish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfis ...

and black mullets. Oysters cling to the mangrove roots. Birds that feed in the lagoon include

scarlet ibis The scarlet ibis (''Eudocimus ruber'') is a species of ibis in the bird family Threskiornithidae. It inhabits tropical South America and part of the Caribbean. In form, it resembles most of the other twenty-seven extant species of ibis, but its ...

red-legged tinamou The red-legged tinamou or red-footed tinamou, (''Crypturellus erythropus'') is a ground-dwelling bird found in the tropics and lower subtropics of northern South America.Clements, J (2007) Description The red-legged tinamou is superficially sim ...

frigatebird Frigatebirds are a family of seabirds called Fregatidae which are found across all tropical and subtropical oceans. The five extant species are classified in a single genus, ''Fregata''. All have predominantly black plumage, long, deeply forked ...

s, blue herons,

green heron The green heron (''Butorides virescens'') is a small heron of North and Central America. ''Butorides'' is from Middle English ''butor'' "bittern" and Ancient Greek ''-oides'', "resembling", and ''virescens'' is Latin for "greenish". It was long c ...

great egret The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...

s, ground doves,

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...

s and flamingos. Three endemic land species are present: the deer ''Odocoileus carriacou margaritae'', the rabbit ''Sylvilagus floridanus margaritae'' and the snake ''Leptotyphlops albifrons margaritae''.

Tourism

Tourists can reach the embarkation pier in the lagoon by bus from

Porlamar ) Pueblo de La Mar ( en, Village by the Sea) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Panoramic , image_flag = Bandera santiagomarino.jpg , image_seal = , pushpin_map =Venezuela , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivis ...

. Five seat motorboats from there take visitors for a trip through the interconnecting channels through the mangroves, some with romantic names like ''Mi Dulce Amor'' (My Sweet Love) or ''Túnel de los Enamorados'' (Lovers Tunnel). The boats take visitors to an open-air shack serving fresh fried fish on a shell beach.

Gallery

Laguna de la Restinga.jpg, View from the air ParqueNacionalLagunadeLaRestinga.jpg, The lagoon looking west towards Peninsula de Macanao Laguna la Restinga.jpg, Lagoon Canal Plaza del Amor.jpg, Channel in the mangroves Canaldelbesorestinga.jpg, Channel in the mangroves Laguna de La Restinga (24).jpg, Channel in the mangroves La Restinga 06.jpg, A boat in the lagoon Laguna de La Restinga (2).jpg, Rental boats

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * {{authority control National parks of Venezuela Margarita Island Geography of Nueva Esparta Important Bird Areas of Venezuela Marine reserves Ramsar sites in Venezuela Protected areas established in 1974 1974 establishments in Venezuela Tourist attractions in Nueva Esparta