I’m always looking for ways to educate my children during our vacations. While having fun is definitely our main priority, it’s always good to find destination-specific educational opportunities. On our press trip to the Cayman Islands, we visited the Blue Iguana Recovery Program – a true model of endangered species recovery.
Blue Iguana Recovery Program
Blue iguanas are indigenous to Cayman Islands, but back in 2004, only about ten remained in the wild. Standard green iguanas, seen all over the Caymans, were actually brought over from Central America, and are invasive. The Blue Iguana Recovery program was created to breed the blue iguanas, and then release them into the wild. At this time, over 700 have been released into the wild, with a goal of 1,000. While the recovery program has certainly come close to their goal, you still don’t see blue iguanas wandering around the Caymans – only green ones. So, it was great to visit the program to see them. Although they weren’t the vibrant aqua blue they are known for (they were shedding their skin while we were there), they are still gorgeous.
Because the botanical gardens where the recovery program is housed is inland with little breeze, it’s almost oppressively hot in the summer. We brought along waters and sun hats, and absolutely needed them. The tour itself took about 45 minutes or so, and I would definitely recommend doing it. It was great to see the iguanas, and learn about this amazing effort to recover them. I know that the tour also helped my daughter learn more about endangered animals. If you can do the tour, it’s definitely worth it for the hands-on educational benefit alone.
Visit the Blue Iguana Recovery Program website to learn more about the Blue Iguana Rescue and Recovery efforts.
Disclosure: All of our expenses were covered by the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism.
