There was plenty else to see, however: jabiru storks, hyacinth macaws and black-collared hawks, as well as howler monkeys, giant otters, caimans and capybaras.
In what Mr Audrines describes as a barter arrangement (in which the Cubans seem to get the rough end), Caracas will trade them for eight macaws, two tapirs, a puma and four capybaras.