Mogotes are made from a type of rock called limestone. Over millions of years, rainwater slowly dissolved the limestone underneath, leaving behind these enormous round lumps sticking up from the ground. Some mogotes are over 300 metres tall. Because they are so steep on every side, they are very hard to climb, and their tops are often covered in plants that exist nowhere else in the world.
The valley floor between the mogotes is some of the most fertile farmland in Cuba. Farmers here grow vegetables, fruit and tobacco plants in the rich red soil. The fields are often ploughed by oxen rather than machines, because the gentle animals cause less damage to the soil. Walking through the valley, you might see a farmer guiding a pair of oxen while egret birds hop along behind, looking for insects stirred up by the plough.
Inside some of the mogotes are large caves, carved out by underground rivers over thousands of years. The most famous, the Indian Cave (Cueva del Indio), has a river running through it that visitors can travel along by boat. The cave walls are covered in stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites rising from the ground, built up drip by drip over thousands of years.