Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve: Jalisco’s Dry Forest Coast
The protected dry forest between Chamela Bay and Cuixmala: its wildlife, its seasons, the research station and how to experience it.
In this guide
In short
The Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve, decreed in 1993 in La Huerta, Jalisco, protects tropical dry forest, mangroves and dunes on the central Costalegre, with 72 mammal and 270 bird species recorded. It is a conservation and research area rather than a park; visitors experience it through guided activities arranged by nearby estates.
The Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve protects a tropical dry forest that scientists have studied for decades, on the Jalisco coast between Chamela Bay and Cuixmala. It is the natural backdrop to the central Costalegre: the grey, leafless hills of the dry season and the dense green of the rains that surround estates such as Careyes. It is not a park with trails and ticket booths, but understanding it explains much of what makes this coast feel so wild.
What the reserve protects
The reserve was established by federal decree on 30 December 1993, in the municipality of La Huerta, about 120 kilometres north of Manzanillo. According to Mexico’s environment ministry, it protects low deciduous forest, the selva baja caducifolia, along with mangroves, marshes, coastal dunes and other habitats. The ministry counts 72 species of mammals, 270 of birds, 20 of amphibians and 46 of reptiles, and notes that sea turtles are protected on nearby beaches.
A forest that changes with the seasons
Tropical dry forest is defined by its long dry season. For months, most trees drop their leaves to survive without rain, and the hills turn silver and grey. When the rains arrive in summer, the forest leafs out within weeks. Visitors in winter see the coast at its starkest; those who come in the rainy months find it at its most lush. Our guide to the best time to visit Costalegre explains the seasons.
Science at Chamela
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) has run a biological station at Chamela since 1971, and research there has built a long scientific record of this forest. The station is a research facility, not a visitor centre.
Its long-term studies of rainfall, plants and animals help explain how the forest survives its long dry months.
Sea turtles on nearby beaches
The environment ministry notes that marine turtles are protected on the beaches near the reserve, and turtle conservation runs along much of this coast. In Costa Careyes, the estate’s sanctuary at Playa Teopa reports that more than 2,000 sea turtles nest each year, and hatchling releases are organised for visitors, best from October to March. Further north, Mayto has one of Mexico’s largest protected turtle nesting beaches. If you join a release, follow the guides’ instructions, keep lights off the beach at night, and never handle eggs or hatchlings yourself.
Visiting the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve
The reserve is managed for conservation and research, and much of its land is private, so there is no general public access in the way a national park might offer. The practical ways to experience its landscape are through the estates and communities around it: guided walks, horseback rides and boat trips arranged by your villa or resort, and the turtle programs on nearby beaches, such as the sanctuary at Playa Teopa in Costa Careyes. Ask locally what access is permitted before setting out on your own, carry water, and avoid the midday heat.
The Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve is the reason this stretch of coast remains so undeveloped. For choosing a base nearby, read where to stay in Costalegre.
