This tour visits two enormous reserves selected by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites to preserve the biological diversity of the Mexican Petén region and its Caribbean coast. Calakmul, at 1.8 million acres, protects the Mexican portion of the so-called “Mayan Forest.” Larger than the state of Delaware, Calakmul shares its rain forest with vast regions of Guatemala (only 30 miles south) and Belize (60 miles east), and altogether these five million acres are the largest contiguous block of tropical forest north of the Amazon River Basin. Wildlife thrives. There are an estimated 600 Jaguars roaming the biosphere, as well as 30 different birds of prey. Among these are the magnificent Crested Eagle, Ornate Hawk-Eagle, and White Hawk. With large populations of Ocellated Turkey, Great Currasow, and Crested Guan, this is also the best area in Mexico for big gallinaceous birds, as well as one of the few places where both Howler and Spider Monkeys co-exist in the same locale. The name Calakmul comes from the language of the indigenous Maya, and it describes an archaeological site that was first discovered in 1931. Meaning “two adjacent temples,” the ancient buildings and spacious courts still appear much as they did when they were abandoned 1000 years ago. Dominating the site at 180 feet, Structure I is the second tallest Maya pyramid, and Structure II has the greatest volume of material of any temple known from the Maya realm. With a population estimated at 50,000 at its peak from 500-800 A.D., Calakmul was probably always in competition with its neighbor Tikal, only 50 miles southeast. Today the birds and mammals move freely across the border that divides these two formerly rival religio-political city states. Variously translated “Gift of the Sky” or “Where the Sky is Born,” Sian Ka’an protects an 80-mile-long stretch of the Caribbean coast and adjacent mainland that encompasses 1.3 million acres. Most of the bird and wildlife at Calakmul also occurs at Sian Ka’an, as well as in the deciduous woodlands that border the preserve. Among the many species that we’ll watch for in this Biosphere are Singing Quail and Yucatán Bobwhite, Keel-billed Toucan and Collared Araçari, Lineated and Pale-billed Woodpeckers, Gray-collared and Rose-throated Becards, and Yellow-winged and Rose-throated Tanagers. Yucatán and Peten endemics include Yucatán Parrot, Yucatán Woodpecker, Yucatán Flycatcher, Yucatán Jay, Gray-throated Chat, and Orange Oriole.

Cost of Yucatán Biospheres includes all accommodations, all meals, all transportation, and all entrance fees beginning in Mérida and ending in Cancún, Mexico—$2795.