The Platano Forest is located on the Río Plátano on the Caribbean coast of Honduras. The tropical rainforest is full of diverse wildlife and plant life, in which at least 2000 indigenous people continue traditional ways of life. Its environmental and cultural value is threatened by agriculture, colonization, and poor resource management. La Mosquitia (or the Miskito Coast) is essentially that part of north-eastern to eastern Honduras and eastern Nicaragua mainly occupied by the indigenous Miskito people, and usually corresponds to the area's lowland pine savanna. The Miskito pine savanna formation occurs on deeply weathered quartz sandy gravels of Pleistocene age in a strip averaging 45 km wide (to 180 km maximum) which extends from about 16°N, 85°30'W in Honduras for some 480 km southward to a few kilometres north of Bluefields, Nicaragua (12°N) (Parsons 1955; Daugherty 1989). The Honduran Mosquitia (16,630 km²) mainly encompasses most of the Department of Gracias a Dios and part of the Department of Colón (Clewell 1986). The 5250 km² Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve is a 35 ×150 km area extending south-west (Map 26), which protects coastal Mosquitia plain and interior elevations including some of the Honduran disjunct north-easternmost highlands. The reserve is in three departments: over half in Gracias a Dios, the rest mostly in Colón, with less than 10% in Olancho (Glick 1980; Daugherty 1989). It includes the entire watershed of the 115 km-long Plátano River (picture) and portions of the watersheds of the lower Tinto, Paulaya, Wampú, Pao, Tuskruwás and lower Sikri (Sigre) rivers - which, along with a 5-km marine extension for the Caribbean Sea, basically form the BR's boundaries. The annual precipitation varies locally from perhaps less than 2850 mm to 3000-4000 mm, with a drier season around January-May; the average annual temperature is 26.6°C. In an average decade, the region is impacted by four intense tropical storms and two hurricanes. About 75% of the Biosphere Reserve is mountainous, with many steep ridges; Pico Morrañanga reaches 1500 m and Punta de Piedra 1326 m. Remarkable geological formations are in the rugged upland region, such as the exposed granitic pinnacle El Viejo or Pico de Dama, which projects finger-like 150 m as the summit of Cerro Dama in the Cordillera Baltimore (Cruz 1986). Cataracts and cascading waterfalls are found, the highest (100-150 m) being the Cascada del Mirador in the headwaters of the Cuyamel River. In one cataract the Plátano River almost disappears among massive boulders in a gorge flanked by forested escarpments 100 m high (Cruz 1986).
The Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve is the largest natural tract of forest remaining in the country. About 75% of the region is in the tropical moist-forest life zone, with 10-15% in the subtropical wet-forest life zone (cf. Houseal et al. 1985). Little is known as yet about the vegetation of the mountainous majority of the BR (Froehlich and Schwerin 1983). The limited knowledge of the reserve's plant species is reported in DIGERENARE and CATIE (1978), Froehlich and Schwerin (1983) and Glick and Betancourt (1983). The most extensive mangrove ecosystems fringe the large coastal lagoons of Brus (brackish, 120 km²) and Ibans (freshwater, 63 km²). Although some mangroves have been cut, the area still retains much of the original formation, with Rhizophora mangle characteristic. Inland from the beach is a broad coastal savanna, which in wetter locales consists of sedge prairie with abundant Rhynchospora spp., Paspalum pulchellum, Tonina fluviatilis and Utricularia subulata, and where drier has more grasses, Fimbristylis paradoxa and Declieuxia fruticosa. Thickets of the palm Acoelorraphe wrightii are common. In drier areas is savanna dominated by Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis (20-25 m tall), which farther inland becomes open woodland with an oak understorey (Quercus oleoides, to 12 m) and Byrsonima crassifolia (to 5 m) conspicuous, along with several Melastomataceae, Calliandra houstoniana and the tree fern Alsophila myosuroides (Clewell 1986). The savanna is burned frequently to maintain pasturage for grazing and to keep game in the open for hunting. Towards the large rivers are thickets dominated by Miconia, Isertia, Psychotria and Helicteres. Along the Plátano River and other alluvial rivers through the savanna, broadleaved gallery forest occurs in various successional stages, to 30-40 m high. Variously conspicuous taxa include Albizia carbonaria, Calophyllum brasiliense var. rekoi, Cecropia, Ficus, Inga, Luehea seemannii, Lonchocarpus, Ochroma lagopus, Pachira aquatica and Heliconia. Small colluvial creeks are flanked by swamp forest with a dense canopy to 10 m dominated by Guttiferae (Symphonia globulifera, Clusia spp.) (Clewell 1986). On richer soils in moist forest that has been disturbed as a result of intermittent agriculture, the dominants are Salix humboldtiana, Bambusa, Pithecellobium and Ceiba pentandra
The Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve (15°05'-15°50'N, 84°36'-85°20'W) is a World Heritage Site located behind the Mosquitia coast of Honduras and is part of the largest surviving area of undisturbed tropical rainforest in Honduras and one of the few remaining in Central America. The forested valley and its coastal plain contain a wide range of habitats with abundant and varied plant and wildlife. In the valleys and along the Caribbean coast, some 5,000 Miskito and Paya Amerindians continue to live in their traditional ways. Agricultural expansion into the southern and western sides of the Reserve by small farmers and cattle ranchers is reducing the forests which are also being massively logged for precious woods such as caoba (Swietenia macrophylla) which threaten the World Heritage values for which the Reserve was inscribed. Uncontrolled commercial hunting of wild animals also occurs. The introduction of exotic species is also threatening to undermine its complex ecosystem. The absence for some years of a management plan and of sufficient park staff to manage the 5,250 square kilometers (km2) site compounded the problem. Government development of a hydroelectric project, Patuca II, near the reserve may affect it negatively. Swietenia macrophylla, Honduras. (Source: University of Florida) In 1996 a corrective action plan, recommended by a IUCN conservation status report, was endorsed by the Honduran Minister for the Environment. In 1997 the buffer zone was enlarged by 3,250 km2 and a management plan for the Reserve is being elaborated with the help of the World Heritage Fund, as part of a large-scale project for improving conservation of the site which is financed by the German Society for Technical Cooperation, GTZ, and German development bank, KFW. There is so much to do in Platano Forest. This is the home to some of the unique wildlife creatures like toucans, monkeys, parrots, sea turtles and rare butterflies. Exploring the rich flora and fauna of the biosphere reserve is a treat to any traveler. Seeing the lifestyle of the indigenous residents is also a major attraction in Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve. It offers travelers a unique opportunity to engage in authentic cultural exchange with communities like Belen, Raista, Brus laguna, Yamari Savannah Cabanas, Batalla, Plaplaya, Les Marias etc. Go and enjoy various cultural activities like dancing, singing, drumming, storytelling, craft making etc. La Ruta Moskitia Ecotourism Alliance is an alliance of six indigenous communities that offer ecotourism products and services within the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve. If you are among those who love adventure, then you can certainly go for kayaking, swimming, hiking and canoeing. Some may go for archeological sites tours as well. A tip for you: staying on the hospedajes while you are on the coast is a wonderful experience. So, you can try one out there.
