A Natural Paradise, one of the most popular destinations on the Pacific coast, the Monterrico Natural Reserve offers beaches, boat tours, birdwatching and an educational center featuring live sea turtles and iguanas. The reserve covers 28 square kilometers, 65% of which consist of lakes, canals, mangroves and saltwater marshes, all teeming with birds, fish and other wildlife.

Most visitors stay in the beachfront town ofMonterrico, one of five villages located within the reserve. a paved road leads to the town of La Avellana, and from there visitors take a boat which carries them about a kilometre along the mangrove-lined, ChiquimulillaCanal to Monterrico.

Facilities at Monterrico include several excellent hotels, seafood restaurants and an reserve. Local fishermen will happily rent their boats for explorations of the reserve’s canals and lakes, where visitors may spot both green and black iguanas, caimans and many resident and migratory birds, including Boat-billed Herons and Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures. In all, more than 110 bird species have been identified at Monterrico. The reserve’s ecosystems include mangroves, with two species of mangrove tees, and dry, tropical forest. It receives about 1,500 mm of rain each year, mostly during the months ofMay to October.

Three species of sea turtles, including leatherbacks, come ashore to lay their eggs on Monterrico`s beach. An important threat for sea turtles throughout the world is human predation. Although fishermen dig up sea turtle nests and sell the eggs, local conservationists are able to obtain some of the eggs and incubate them in protected areas of sand. One of the most memorable experiences for many visitors to Monterrico is watching baby sea turtles emerge from these protected nests and make their way to the ocean, where they will encounter many other dangers before growing to maturity and finding their way back to these same beaches to lay their own eggs. A visitors center run by San Carlos University features exhibits about the life cycle of sea turtles, salt water tanks with live turtles and a small zoo with green iguanas and other local animals.

After a full morning of birdwatching and natural history tours, there’s no better wayto relax than by swimming, sunbathing on Monterrico`s beautiful, volcanic sand beaches or just lying in a hammock strung beneath a palm-thatched roof, watching the gentle Pacific surf. Monterrico provides the perfect, “tropical” touch to a vacation in Guatemala, with the requisite palm trees, coconuts and laid-back atmosphere. It offers fun activities for the entire family and is a highlight of any tour of the country.