(Excerpt)

“Scarlet macaws!” shouted Chapal, our Mayan guide, as our canoe reached a tea-coloured lagoon where the Macal and Raspacula rivers meet, deep in the Maya Mountains of southern Belize. Moments later, they came flapping across the sky, their long, red tails trailing behind them, their sapphire blue and yellow wings flashing in the sunlight. To the ancient Maya, the scarlet macaw was, like the jaguar, a symbol of the power and mystery of the universe. Outlined against the dense, green foliage of the rainforest, they looked like rainbow-coloured kites. Marvelling at their beauty, we watched the birds circle overhead, then settle in the crown of a giant ceiba tree. The area we were travelling through is part of what is known as the Selva Maya. It has taken millions of years for the unique ecology of this area to evolve, and since the collapse of Mayan civilisation more than 1,000 years ago this remote, inaccessible part of Belize has remained almost completely undisturbed. It is now one of the last surviving remnants of rainforest in Central America. The technical term for this type of environment is riparian shrubland. In the rainy season, as water pours off the mountains, the river becomes a roaring torrent of water, as much as 30ft deep. These mighty floods act as a scourer, sweeping dead and rotting vegetation off the valley floor and inundating it with fresh, highly oxygenated water. The floods also bring with them tonnes of soil and minerals, rich in nutrients, which are deposited in the flood plain. When the water recedes, there is an explosive growth of new vegetation, which provides food for a vast number of animals and birds. Tapirs graze on the abundant edible shrubs and plants. There are red brocket deer and wild pigs, known as peccaries; a rare species of otter; a subspecies of crocodile, known as Morelet’s crocodile; as well as howler and spider monkeys. In all, 58 species of animals live in the upper Macal River valley. Eight of them are on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. A further 28 are rare or threatened, including Belize’s signature wild cat, the jaguar. As Jan Meerman, a Dutch-born naturalist who lives and works in Belize, told me:,”You can find all of the animals that live here in other places in Belize. But this is the only place you can find them all in one area.”