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SIAN KA'AN BIOSPHERE RESERVE
One the highlights of our holiday was to visit the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve in Quintana Roo. This has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 and covers a huge area made up of jungle, lagoons, wetlands and even offshore coral reefs. It is a pristine untouched wilderness giving a real sense of isolation. The statistics for the reserve are quite staggering, 350+ species of birds, 320 species of butterfly, 1200 plant types and 230 tree species - not to mention jaguar, puma, manatees and a whole host of other wildlife.
To get to the lagoon shore you first have to negotiate fairly dense jungle, although there is a fairly well worn path and decking (of sorts) where required. Unfortunately it had been raining heavily the day before our visit and the mosquitos were particularly annoying.
Path to lagoon - Sian Ka'an
Near the end of the 'path' is a very rickety viewing platform looking over the jungle and lagoon. I ventured up (health and safety is not high priority in Mexico) and the view was magnificent.
View from jungle platform - the palms are Thrinax Radiata and Sabal Yapa - both are indigenous to coastal Yucatan and Quintana Roo and are apparantly classed as endangered. Can't see why as there are millions of them!
When we reached the lagoon we jumped into boats. There is an inner basically freshwater lagoon and an outer salt water lagoon.
Freshwater lagoon - the raised area in the distance reminded me of the 'hammocks' in the evergglades - although the vegetation is generally different.
This area of Mexico is famous for its ancient Mayan people/culture and centuries ago they carved a canal between the lagoons. The natural flow of water to the sea means there is a current in the canal and we simply jumped out the boats and 'floated' between the two lagoons. The water is mainly crystal clear - the ultimate lazy river.
Mayan temple in canal linking lagoons - again the palms are Thrinax Radiata
In boats returning along Mayan canal - the water is occasionally brackish - I think it is something to do with the confluence of of salt and fresh water.
Mayan canal
Orchid growing in the mangrove root system - some sort of Banana Orchid although I'm not too sure.
Lovely flowers though!
There were many epiphytes growing in the mangroves - Tillandsia I think.
We then sped back across the lagoon for eats.
This is the view from the hut where we had early dinner.
......and this was dinner. Traditional tortilla with just about the hotest chilli sauce you can imagine. Lovely. The food you see on the plate is a Tamale, in this case a type of corn dough steamed in a banana leaf.
There were some lovely butterflies on the lagoon shore, like these.....
Luckily there is another vehicle track to the lagoon shore so we were able to get back to civilisation without picking up dozens more mosquito bites.
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