Best National Parks in Mexico Review

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mrkstvns
Austin, TX

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5 Shining Stars of the Mexican National Park System...

love nature, adventurous, off the beaten path, exploring Mexican culture

Pros

nature at its best, biodiversity, ecological travel

MAR

2008

With all its fabulous beach resorts, charming colonial towns, and sophisticated cities, it's easy to forget that Mexico has an amazing diversity of natural wonders and wildlife habitats in every corner of the country.

Mexico's equivalent of the National Park Service is called CONANP, a federal government agency that manages over 160 parks and preserves. Like their American counterparts, CONANP uses the term "park" ("parque" in Spanish) to identify a place that has a strong public use value, usually because of its recreational opportunities or its historical significance. They use the term "reserve" ("reserva") to denote a place that exists to preserve habitat for animals, or sometimes for endangered plant species. Parks are often convenient to urban areas and have some public use facilities, whereas reserves have traditionally discouraged casual public use and often have no public facilities whatsoever. These aren't hard and fast rules though: some reserves have visitors centers and offer public tours.

There are some spectacular places to see in Mexico's national park system, and there are more biologically critical habitat areas than I could possibly include without simply giving you the whole list off the CONANP web site. Of all the destinations included in the national park system, there are five that I think stand out as the true "cream of the crop" --- places with excellent scenic value and places that offer unique insight into the world's amazing, but quickly disappearing biodiversity. They are all places that are generally "off the beaten path" --- even the ones you've seen featured on National Geographic or the Discovery Channel. Getting to some of them will require a bit of work, and often a good deal of comfort with latin american customs. They're all worth the effort.

1. Parque Nacional Cascadas de Agua Azul Palenque (Chiapas)
This park captures the essence of southern Mexico. The population is heavily Mayan, not Hispanic, and it's a dense, verdant jungle-clad region where the peaks of ancient Mayan pyramids regularly puncture the overhanging tropical rainforest canopy. The reason people flock to this park is for the series of waterfalls along a several miles long stretch of the deep limestone lined river. Minerals give the water an unnaturally fluorescent blue color, and locals come to cool themselves off in the refreshingly cool cascading waters.

(An excellent series of pictures from this park is online at: www.locogringo.com/chiapas/aguaazul.html)

2. Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello (Chiapas)
Near Mexico's southern border with Guatemala is the kind of park where people can truly "get away from it all". In fact, you just might not see another soul the whole time you're in the park. That might be a bit unnerving, since the park is an enormous remote jungle, but in the midst of those rolling hills covered in deep bright green vegetation are 60 shimmering diamonds --- bright, clean lakes spread out just far enough part to make for easy hiking or horseback explorations. This park caters to the eco-tourist and the backpacker. The park is also site of a Mayan archaeological site: Chinkultic, though that too is very far off the beaten path and no American tourists visit, so expect no tourist services and nobody who speaks English.

(An excellent series of pictures from this park is online at: www.mexperience.com/guide/mexicophotos/lakeslagunillasmontebello.htm)

3. Parque Nacional Barrancas del Cobre (Chihuahua)
Bigger, deeper, and grander than the Grand Canyon, Mexico's Copper Canyon has the added allure of being generally accessible only by a long train journey. Most people stay a couple nights (or longer) in Divisadero or one of the other towns within the canyon network, and doing horseback treks down into the depths of canyon base. The National Park covers only a portion of the canyon system, and it preserves a very unique desert, canyon ecosystem, and one that's also culturally significant because it's home of the ancient Tarahumura people --- a small, native population that's been largely insulated from decimation because of its remote, rugged homeland. This is one of the few parks that's very easy to visit, since there are several tour agents who will assist you with arrangements and itineraries. Rolling a trip on your own can cost as little as $400 for a 4-day trip, including round-trip train travel, hotels, and meals. (Know that train tickets are currently about $70 economico and $140 first class).

(Excellent photo galleries, trip details, and links to tour operators are online at: www.copper-canyon.us)

4. Reserva Especial de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca (Michoacan)
Early each fall, monarch butterflies leave their summertime flittering grounds across the United States and migrate south to the highland hills in the central Mexican state of Michoacan. Clouds of butterflies fill the forests. In past years though, logging and deforestation has dramatically reduced the amount of wilderness for the butterfly habitats, though conservation groups and the Mexican government have made steps in recent years to reverse the trend. The government established this new reserve as part of its commitment to preserve endangered habitat. Private conservation groups have also established private sanctuary lands bordering or nearby to the government-protected lands, and local communities are beginning to realize that green-minded nature lovers will pay money to visit the reserves during the months when butterflies make their homes here. An easy way to see the butterflies is to stay in the town of Angangueo Michoacan and then visit the private sanctuaries. Day trips can also be arranged from nearby (and not-so-nearby) cities.

(An excellent story about the monarchs, with photos, is online at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2002/mar/09/mexico.wildlifeholidays.ecotourism)

5. Biosfera de la Reserva de Sian Ka'an
Along Mexico's Caribbean coastline, just south of Playa del Carmen, is one of Mexico's largest and most important parks: Sian Ka'an. It's a wildlife preserve that includes dense jungle habitat for big cats like jaguars and pumas, as well as smaller species, like the 130 species of bird that flock to the protective greenery of its canopy. It includes miles and miles of coastal wetlands, filled with mangrove swamp and inlets to the sea --- this is where manatees make their home. And it includes many miles of protected natural coastline with beaches as good as those in Cancun, but that are off-limits to the developers so that sea turtles can have protected nesting grounds and so the fragile coral reefs just offshore can be allowed to live and thrive. UNESCO selected Sian Ka'an as one of its "World Heritage Sites", but the biodiversity and amazing coastal jungle scenery have nothing to do with it --- the park is also home to 23 identified Mayan archaeological sites. Although the park is essentially a "humans-free" nature preserve, it's possible to drive through the entire bumpy, pot-hill filled dirt road to the seaside village of Punta Allen, where palapa lodging and quiet seaside dining is to be had. There's also a new visitor center that's easily accessible to highway 307, the main coastal highway along the Mexaribbean shore.

Visitor center web site: www.cesiak.org
Local conservation group: www.amigosdesiankaan.org/index.html
Good overview with photos: www.ecotravelmexico.com/aboutsiankaan.html

Further Info...
Official web site of Mexico's park service, CONANP, is at: www.conanp.gob.mx

Last edited on Apr 04, 2008