Aripo is the home of the Aripo Savannas Scientific Reserve which covers approximately 4,400 acres between Cumuto, Sangre Grande, and Valencia. Famous for its pristine reserve with wild animals, moriche palms (mauritia flexuosa), and rare orchids, the reserve began to change in the 1960s when 150 acres were scraped for gravel by the KP Quarries company with government permission. This operation continued until 1990, by which time permanent damage to the environment had occurred. In 2000, the marsh of the reserve had turned into a black swamp and the moriche palms had begun their slow death (see photo at left).