Los Haitises National Park

Los Haitises is a national park on the southwest shore of Samaná Bay, a maze of forested limestone hills rising out of the water, mangroves and caves with pre-Columbian Taíno rock art. You see it by boat: tours leave from Sabana de la Mar or Samaná and weave between the islets for 2 to 3 hours, with short, mostly flat walks from the dock into caves such as San Gabriel and La Línea, where guides show you the drawings. Please don't touch the rock art. From Bávaro it is about 2 to 2.5 hours by road to Sabana de la Mar, and a day trip from Punta Cana takes about 11 to 13 hours in all. The park is home to the world's largest population of the critically endangered Ridgway's hawk, and pelicans and frigatebirds are everywhere. Samaná has no real dry season: February to April is the least rainy stretch, and September to November is the wettest. No excursion we photograph goes here, so photos at Los Haitises are a private shoot, arranged in advance.