Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve

The final destination of note on my trip was the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (map). Most access the reserve (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) from the North, about ten kilometres from Tulum, but as you can see from the link to the map above, this is only scraping the surface of this huge protected area. Sian Ka'an covers just over 1.3 million acres, accounting for over ten percent of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

The side-by-side accommodations you see along the beach near Tulum end the moment you pass through the gates to the reserve. The Tulum Zona Hotelera gives way to a mostly pristine, 45km spit of land extending south to Punta Allen. The often narrow (as a stone's throw) spit is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the East and salt water lagoons to the West.

We stayed at Cesiak, an eco-lodge dedicated to conservation and education programs both inside and outside the reserve. The 'tent' we stayed in was quite luxurious, with two double beds and a hammock on the patio overlooking the sea. I felt like I was on the set of M*A*S*H whenever I stepped into the green canvas doorway. The beach below was truly deserted, with maybe three or four others visible at any given time on the ten kilometres stretching to the North and South.



Something that could not be overlooked on the beaches was the incredible amount of garbage, mostly plastic, washed ashore. When you walk a beach near any town on the Yucatán, the beach is usually quite clean. But in Sian Ka'an, beaches are 'pristine' everywhere but in front of the lodging or residences (grandfathered from before the UNESCO designation). In this sense, 'pristine' means that you see them in an unaltered state, with whatever washes ashore staying on shore. It's both amazing and disturbing to see the amount of garbage we assume the oceans of the world can assume, and equally disturbing to see this garbage accumulate in those areas we 'protect'.

The kayak tour of the lagoon was nice, but not well organised. The 3PM tour left just after 4PM, and the kayaks used were surf kayaks - very stable, but not very quick. They are also about as easy to steer as Crazy Carpets once the wind comes up, and in the Yucatan the wind is always up. The guide Manuel was very good, full of facts about the ecosystem and the animals relying upon it.

The lagoon rarely exceeded one metre deep, and paddles occasionally dug into more mud than water. This made our seeing one or two american crocodiles pretty exciting. As you slid across the surface you would often disturb a stingray, who would take off from almost under your boat, leaving a cloud of murky water behind. The birds were nice too, but I'm really not too into birds.

My last few days on the Yucatán were memorable for all the wrong reasons, as Sian Ka'an is where I started coming down with something. I suspected malaria, as I exhibited 11 of the 13 symptoms I researched. Doctors ruled it out once I was back in Canada; it was pneumonia combined with a lung infection. Seeing as the nights at Sian Ka'an (at sea level) were the coldest I experienced on my entire trip, I was not too surprised I caught something.