Ecotourism & Adventure Travel

Ecotourism and adventure travel in Mexico run the gamut from white-water rafting to bird-watching. They offer opportunities to witness or experience such unforgettable sights as a forest carpeted by millions of monarch butterflies, close encounters with curious and friendly gray whales, or thousands of newly hatched sea turtles heading towards the ocean.

Today, even destinations not formerly known for their ecotourism or adventure travel, such as Manzanillo, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, are offering visitors myriad activities in the great outdoors, from canopy tours to mountainside ATV excursions to nature hikes. So no matter where you go, opportunities to commune with nature are plentiful.

Monarch Butterflies

Every autumn, millions of black-and-orange monarch butterflies fly some 3,600 kilometers (2,200 miles) from southern Canada and the northern US to a tiny niche of mountains in the central Mexican states of Michoacan and Estado de Mexico. They roost in the high, cool trees of the regional fir forests before heading north again in the spring, painting the otherwise green forest landscape a bright orange. Given World Heritage status in 2008, the butterfly sanctuaries represent one of those rare instances such natural phenomena can be so easily glimpsed and photographed. The best months to see the butterflies are February and early March, but any time from late November through March is fine.

Baja Wildlife

The Sea of Cortez (known south of the border as the Gulf of California) has been described as an upside-down rain forest — here a profusion of life exists below the water. Up to a third of the world’s cetacean species (whales, dolphin, porpoise) are found in these waters, including the world’s smallest porpoise — the vaquita — found nowhere else. Nearly 100 pristine desert islands dot the azure waters off the east coast of the Baja peninsula. More than 3,500 species of plants, mostly cactus, thrive on this dry land, and hundreds of birds live here or migrate to feed on the sea life. From late December to late March you can easily spot gray whales all along the stretch of water between the islands. Another good place to see them is Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, on the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula, near the Guerrero Negro desert.

Yucatan Peninsula

If it were a country unto itself, the southeastern Yucatan Peninsula would be considered an ecologically important nation. From its Caribbean waters to its natural sunken pools, or cenotes, from its jungles to its arid landscapes, Yucatan is blessed.
The Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, 15 minutes south of Tulum or about two hours south of Cancun, is Mexico’s third-largest protected area and a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. The reserve boasts tropical forest, mangrove wetland, freshwater canals, lagoons, savannah prairie and 70 miles of the second-longest barrier reef in the world, all rolled up into one dense hot spot of life. Not surprisingly, the varied landscape is home to an abundance of birds and animals.

Ria Lagartos, in north Yucatan state, a four-hour drive from Cancun, is home to flamingos that nest here from summer to fall then migrate a few hundred kilometers west to Celestun, another biosphere reserve in Yucatan, about an hour and a half from Merida. An hour’s boat ride from Cancun sits Contoy Island, home to 70 species of resident or migratory birds like the frigate, double-crested cormorant, roseate spoonbill, brown pelican and pink heron. Punta Laguna, a small haven of semi-evergreen forest just south of Cancun, is a natural spider monkey and bird sanctuary.

White-Water Rafting

Veracruz’s rivers are ideal for combining sightseeing with a little — or a lot of — adventure. Visitors can enjoy the state’s natural beauty and a few of its archaeological sites while navigating the Filo-Bobos, Antigua, Pescados and Actopan, the region’s four main rafting rivers. Rivers for white-water enthusiasts are rated from class one to six, and all categories are found here.

Oaxacan Wonders

Seven of the world’s eight sea turtle species nest on Mexican beaches in a ritual that dates back some 150 million years. The best nesting beaches are found on the Pacific coast, where tens of thousands of sea turtles nest each year from June to December. Most nesting beaches are federally protected and have no tourist facilities, but tours are available from Puerto Escondido and Huatulco to Mazunte, the site of a former sea turtle slaughtering house that was turned into a sanctuary for the embattled species.

Mountain Climbing

Two towering mountain ranges run down eastern and western Mexico; the central plateau between them is the highest populated region in the world after Bolivia and Tibet. The tallest mountain peak here, Pico de Orizaba (18,850 ft.) in Veracruz state, is the third-highest peak in North America.

Tropical Forests

Mexico’s southern states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Veracruz, Quintana Roo and Campeche all have lush folds of tropical forests. Las Cañadas cloud forest in the state of Veracruz is characterized by exceptionally beautiful tropical scenery. Here, a 1,000-acre ecological reserve not only welcomes travelers to an abundance of flora and fauna, but features daily work activities, courses in agro-ecology and delicious meals prepared with local products (www.bosquedeniebla.com.mx).

For more information on ecotourism and adventure travel in Mexico, contact the Mexican Association of Adventure and Ecotourism (Amtave) at info@amtave.org, or visit www.amtave.org.