If you are a professor of ecology, botany, zoology, entomology, you will find species at Yaxha that will showcase your capability as a scholar. This is because there are more different ecosystems in this one single park than in most other parks. During the field trips (one each month) we have found and photographed a diversity of ecosystems around Yaxha, Nakum, and Naranjo that will help totally rewrite all the 1960’s-1990’s research done elsewhere in Peten.
Photo by Dr Nicholas Hellmuth with an iPhone Xs.
Panorama of Savanna of 3 Fern Species, discovered by the team in April 2019; revisited in June 2019. This area has unforeseen diversity: it is a bog, a swamp, a savanna of ferns, and a sibal (sawgrass ecosystem). Plus has the specific Acoelorraphe wrightii palmetto palm and Crescentia cujete trees of grass savanna definition of Peten and Belize (but no pine trees and no bushes with sandpaper leaves (Curatella americana, Chaparro). So the grass savannas of the Nakum area of the park are distinctly (and unexpectedly) different than the savannas of nearby Belize.
Photo by Dr Nicholas Hellmuth with an iPhone Xs.
Panorama of the west shore area of Rio Ixtinto: will be inundated in a really wet year (photographed in June 2019, height of one of the driest years in recent history).
Photo by Dr Nicholas Hellmuth with an iPhone Xs.
Panorama of the unexpectedly large Savanna East of Nakum, discovered several months ago at Aguada Maya, Poza Maya. Each of these ecosystems has a different micro ecosystem every 50 meters.
To our knowledge this project (FLAAR Mesoamerica cooperating with IDAEH and CONAP) is among the first to use the concept of panorama photos to document the ecosystem diversity. Our goal is to show the world what is available for you to experience when you visit Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo. Since the sawgrass and ferns are so high we bring ladders (endless kilometers hike) so we can use a several-meter high Gitzo tripod so our panorama system (iPhone Xs, Google Pixel 3XL, Nikon D810 or Canon EOS 1DX Mark II or our other cameras) can record the plant diversity in each of the micro ecosystems.
Since there is so much to see in this park it helps to stay several days. The Hotel Ecolodge El Sombrero is located next to the entrance. You do not need 4WD to reach the hotel nor the parking lot to entire the Yaxha ruins. Boats are readily available to cruise Lake Yaxha, the cenotes at the west end, and the Rio Ixtinto near the west side of Isla Topoxte.
To reach Nakum, try only in the dry season and only with high axel 4WD (or hiking by foot, with a guide). To reach Naranjo, an impressive area of acropolises, palaces, temples and pyramids, a high axel 4WD is essential (except during the driest month of the year, perhaps April).
Posted June 14, 2019
