Calakmul Biosphere Reserve

The Reserva de la Biosfera de Calakmul is one of the most important conservation areas in Mexico, one of the reserves with the greatest natural riches on the continent, and was the first place in the country to be named a Mixed World Heritage site by the UNESCO. It is the green heart of the Mayan world.

The history of the Calakmul archeological zone is also the story of the rise and fall of the Maya. Enveloped in more than a million hectares of rainforest, the ancient capital of the Ka’an kingdom seems to be a stone island in the middle of an emerald sea. If you join this “sea” with other nearby tropical reserves–Balamkú and Balam Kin, in Campeche; Sian Ka’an, in Quintana Roo; the Lacandona in Chiapas; the Mayan jungle in Guatemala; and the Cockscomb reserve in Belize–it makes a true ocean of vegetation and forms the second most important green space on the planet after the Amazon.