WILDLIFE

Untamed Wilderness

The Americas' largest tropical rainforest north of the Amazon is both a home and a sanctuary for numerous rare and endangered species.

WORDS KATE WEBSTER

WILDLIFE

Untamed Wilderness

The Americas' largest tropical rainforest north of the Amazon is both a home and a sanctuary for numerous rare and endangered species.

WORDS KATE WEBSTER

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When you are standing atop the ruins of one of the many ancient temples half-hidden by the Maya Forest, listening to the cries of troops of howler monkeys, it’s hard to believe some species of the noisy primates could be critically endangered.

A large monkey, with some growing to be almost a metre tall, howlers are perhaps one of the easiest to spot of the countless endangered species that survive in Central America's 35-million-acre rainforest. Howlers are often seen in the high branches of trees overlooking the Mayan ruins — some even feature as monkey gods in the ancient temple stonework — and they can be heard up to three miles away as they let loose the cacophonous cries that gave them their name.

Spider monkeys live in the tropical forests of South and Central America.

The Maya Forest, which stretches across northern Guatemala, Belize and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, is home to an abundance of native species that are under threat from loss of habitat. The largest cat in the Americas, the jaguar, is one. Jaguars are so elusive that it is not known how many are left in the wild, so passionate wilderness advocate, Mark Hutchinson, considers himself lucky to have sighted one in Rio Macho National Park, Costa Rica. ‘We were hiking a trail through quite a thick rainforest on a three-day trek to some epic waterfall and we came across a large swamp land, full of aquatic wading birds. Our guide sat on his haunches and motioned us all to stop, breath, crouch.

“Once my eyes adjusted to the phenomenon of light that camouflage produces, a big Tom jaguar, over 220 lbs (100 kg), was standing as clear as day on a small island in the middle of the swamp.”

The elusive jaguar is the largest of South America's big cats.

Jaguars are identified by their unusually large, round heads, short legs and a stunning coat dotted with dark rosettes and spots. While they are not endangered at present, the increasing destruction of their forest home is putting the remaining  population  under serious pressure.  ‘We were fortunate enough to sit with him being totally unaware of us for 10 minutes before he caught wind and moved off into some tall reeds,’ Mark says.

Dolphins can be spotted on both the Pacific Ocean and Carribean Sea (Atlantic Ocean) coastlines, which hug Central America. Photo: Mark Hutchinson

Many species of macaws are becoming increasingly rare in the wild.

There are more than 200 species of squirrel worldwide.

Mark is the founder of WildArk, a social venture that works to secure green belts around the world that will be preserved and rehabilitated to return to their natural state. WildArk’s ultimate mission is to reconnect people with nature and to help protect the world’s wild places.  Mark has travelled throughout Central America as an eco-tour guide and as a conservationist and says the sheer scale and diversity of its landscapes at the eco-region level have fostered a broad range of wildlife.

“It was simply nature at her most awesome.”

The ruins of the Mayan walled city at Tulum, on the edge of the Caribbean Sea, are a popular tourist attraction.

Central America includes the countries Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize and Mexico. Rainforests, volcanoes, mangrove systems, reefs, deserts and limestone mountain ranges dominate, but they are also influenced by the coastal biome from both the Pacific and Atlantic/Caribbean Oceans.

There are few people living in remote villages near Rio Macho National Park. Photo: Mark Hutchinson

‘What I didn’t realise before travelling to Central America was the sheer diversity of the ecosystems: deserts and high-altitude plateaus in Mexico; the limestone mountain and cave networks of Guatemala and Honduras, which produce pristine freshwater systems; unpenetrated rainforests; coastal mangrove systems; and, fringing coral reefs - all within a fairly small, compact area. ‘These ecosystems and different biomes, existing within the tropics, have created an abundance of biodiversity and native species only found in Central America. It’s an incredible density of species,’ Mark says.

Reptiles are a common sight in and around the ruins.

Wilderness advocate, Mark Hutchinson.

The region is reasonably well represented by mammals, generously populated with reptiles, and extremely rich in insects and birdlife — with snakes found in abundance. This richness of life is why it’s so important to preserve the remaining wild areas of Central America. ‘I was actually bitten by a baby boa constrictor trying to remove it from underneath our guest’s dinner table — embarrassing story,' Mark says.  ‘I was entertaining a group of American guests on a beach in Belize with my wife Sophie. We had just dived the pristine reefs and the group were buzzing with excitement.

Catch glimpses of wildlife endemic to the tropics from the top of the Altun Ha ruins.

‘We were setting up a moonlight dinner on the beach when one of our guests started screaming, “Snake. It’s a huge snake”. Being an Aussie, and huge fan of Steve Irwin, I immediately came to the rescue, only to find a 10 centimetre-long baby boa coiled up underneath her chair. I chuckled and said, “It's only a baby, let me take it to the bush”, and went to pick it up by the tail. ‘It latched its re-curved fangs into the flesh between my thumb and forefinger, causing me to screech in a high-pitched wail and run off, with snake attached, to release it into the palm trees. All captured by my wife on video — so much for the macho Aussie guy.’