¡Te fuiste de viaje y quieres compartir tu experiencia!
Para nosotros es muy importante poder crear un espacio en donde las personas puedan compartir, a través de una narrativa o un texto, algunas de sus experiencias de viaje con la cual el lector pueda sentir esa aventura con ustedes. Con esto, pretendemos también, enriquecer nuestro conocimiento por diferentes caminos del mundo y crear una cultura más rica a través de su diversidad y tradición.
Te invitamos a formar parte de este espacio creado para todos nosotros.
Envíanos por correo tus inquietudes y el escrito que te gustaría compartir y lo publicamos con gusto.
¡Un abrazo!
WALKABOUT TOURS
LIVE THE ADVENTURE & LOVE THE JOURNEY
The Macaw Reserve
We took the Macaw Reserve walking tour and felt it was really fascinating! This is clearly the most outstanding nature walk to do in the surrounding areas of Puerto Vallarta.
We left the car by the side of the road after driving about 40 minutes from the Zona Romantica and decided to take a 3km beautiful walk up the mountainside through a small dirt road that passes through various fields and forested hills. Claudia is an outstanding guide as she has very good knowledge of the local flora and fauna and gave us fascinating explanations of the various species that we sighted. Jorge, the owner of the Macaw reserve joined our group at Las Juntas as his family runs a small restaurant there. Jorge is very dedicated and was extremely excited to show us the Conservation project that they have started over 9 years ago with his family. Jorge has led the conservation of the forested hills where the Military Macaws (Ara Militaris) took refuge after some hills adjacent to his reserve were being logged years ago. Jorge and his family had the foresight to preserve their ejido (small land holding) and conserve the land in its wild state and thus provide a refuge for the macaws that were fleeing from the encroaching loggers. They started to set up nest boxes about 9 years ago which the wild birds quickly started to utilise. Jorge has worked in conjunction with various biologists and has been trying to get local and international support for his project. They currently have 27 nest boxes and have set up camera traps which are mostly gifted by individuals and local tour operators. Jorge pointed out how some of the individuals & families and Tour groups that had made charitable donations for the construction of the nest boxes had their logos or names imprinted on them. Therefore, going to see the preserve you feel fortunate in that you are contributing to conserving these wild spaces whilst at the same time you are enjoying the beautiful walk up and back from the reserve observing and connecting with nature.
Once we had arrived at the reserve we walked down various forested paths as Jorge showed us numerous Macaws, initially perched high in the trees but then we were delighted to see them take off and fly in unison, mostly in pairs around the forest. After the initial sighting where we must have seen at least 25 different pairs, we continued to stroll to a hide that they have built beautifully next to the mountainside where it is easy to spot and photograph many macaws that converge around their nest boxes. We sighted around 30 adults and 10 or so juveniles chattering and playing around for a while. The groups of macaws are extremely chattery and it is entertaining just to observe the various pairs going about their business playing and preening each other. After spending some time photographing and observing the action around the nest boxes, we moved on to climb a sturdy wooden tower that they built on the summit of the hill in the reserve where you can observe the wildlife giving you a view of the forest canopy and the Pacific Ocean in the background. The cacophony of sounds is mesmerising and the innumerable hues of green provide you with the most exquisite views to photograph.
I strongly recommend this nature walk, it is indeed a fantastic way to spend a morning or afternoon in Puerto Vallarta while feeling the calm of connecting with nature. You will also be delighted that the entrance fee to the Reserve is going directly to supporting local conservation efforts.
