4,503 flamingos, with 56.5% at Las Marites [E]
The 2025 state census counted 4,503 flamingos across 10 wetlands, 35.6% more than in 2023. Las Marites Lagoon holds 56.5%: the anchor of the interior’s birdwatching.
World 05 · With lodging
Sacred Valley
The green mountain and the capital.
DesignGuardian: The Cacique Macanao, spiritual memory mode [D]
What it is
The green mountain and the capital. The cloud forest of Cerro El Copey is the island’s humid oasis — its only permanent water sources — and its National Park dates from 1974. La Asunción, the historic capital, hosts the traveller and keeps the Cathedral (1571), the Basilica of El Valle and the potters’ villages of El Cercado. The palm bearers climb the mountain at Holy Week, and the green season runs May to October.
Where
The World’s zone on the verified chart of the archipelago. The outlines are corridor design; the points are real, sourced places.
The real places [V]
Every place with its coordinate and its source, verified one by one.
Cerro El Copey
10.9974, -63.9127 ↗National Park since 1974 (7,130 ha); its cloud forest receives 600 to 1,000 mm of rain and holds the island’s only permanent waters.
La Asunción
11.0333, -63.8628 ↗The state’s historic capital, with its 1571 Cathedral and the old town declared a National Historic Monument in 1976.
El Cercado
11.0494, -63.9209 ↗Potters’ village in Gómez municipality: black clay, built by hand, has been worked here for generations.
Basilica of Our Lady of El Valle
10.9827, -63.8842 ↗Marian sanctuary elevated to Minor Basilica in 1995, patroness of the East.
Las Marites Lagoon
10.9142, -63.9201 ↗Natural Monument since 1974 (3,674 ha) and the wetland with the most flamingos in the 2025 census.
The verified product
The palm bearers, UNESCO 2019 [V]
The Biocultural Programme for the Safeguarding of the “Blessed Palm” tradition was inscribed in 2019 in UNESCO’s Register of Good Safeguarding Practices (file 01464), and includes the palm bearers of La Asunción and El Valle del Espíritu Santo. At Holy Week they climb the mountain, prune, plant and share the fronds.
The galerón, cultural heritage [V]
The Margarita galerón is certified intangible cultural heritage (31 May 2026, El Cercado); its singers sustain the décima and the valley’s music.
When
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
The valley’s green season runs May to October [D]; the palm bearers climb at Holy Week [V]. [V]
Who receives it [Pr]
The host community is the rural community together with the ecotourism operators. Its Community Council is constituted in the Pilot Phase [Pr] and receives the community half of the retention.
Today the palm bearers’ associations and the potters of El Cercado are the real community organizations, named in the UNESCO file [V].
“An experimental proposal, subject to consultation with communities and experts should the State adopt the SOT.”
The Worlds are a proposal of the SOT Paraguachoa. Communities and experts define their final shape if the State adopts the system: every territorial decision is consulted with those who live it.
What it protects
Cerro El Copey NP + Las Marites Lagoon NM [V]
The Sacred Valley protects 7,130 hectares of cloud forest (Cerro El Copey NP, 1974) and 3,674 hectares of the Las Marites wetland (NM, 1974; KBA 14973). El Copey is the island’s only place with permanent water.
The memory it carries
The memory of the Guaiquerí people, cited by page from the Cacique’s archive.
The valley’s first church dates from 1608; the valley was the island’s spiritual heart from early on. [V]
F-0108 Cacique notes, axis 03
La Asunción’s living place names — El Güire, El Pui — still name streets and neighbourhoods of the capital. [V]
F-0119 Ávila Guerra and Narváez Chacón (2002), p. 14
The Virgin of El Valle appears in the piache’s cave: a tradition the Margarita people wove into their own pantheon from the ritual cave. [E]
F-0092/F-0112 Cacique notes, axis 03
“An experimental proposal, subject to consultation with communities and experts should the State adopt the SOT.”
How one travels today
Itinerary seeds with what already exists in the territory — without promises.
- Climb El Copey through the recreation area and its viewpoints [V].
- Buy black-clay pottery at El Cercado [V].
- Live Holy Week with the palm bearers and watch the flamingos at Las Marites [V].
Connections
The traffic lightThe valley’s weather and connectivity, on the Green Corridor’s live board.MGTAThe operators of every World are certified under the MGTA standard — the territory’s quality threshold.Sovereign RetentionThe community half of the retention goes to the District Community Fund: the full design, linked.The AI TriadEvery World names its guardian: ALMA in its modes and the Cacique Macanao in his.