Exploring El Triunfo
by Philip D. Tanimoto

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MEXICO -- I plodded upward, behind two mules, venado and muñeca, their hooves rustling the yellow, fallen leaves. The coffee plantations below and behind us, the cry of a Black Guan (Penelopina nigra ) shot up from the hillside below, as we passed through a narrow zone of pines, and on into the oak and sweet gum forests near 2,000 meters.

My guides, Marco and Enelfo, provided ample interpretation of new sights and sounds. The song of the Gray-breasted Woodwren (Myodestes obscurus) seemed to envelop us in the auditory equivalent of chocolate. We came to a vista, where below us, at the bottom of the precipice, stood Santa Rita, a pad of beige coffee beans drying in the sun, and a barely visible figure, turning them with a paddle.

Below the pine forests, and beyond the coffee plantations, the blue sky dominated the fading desert sea of the Rio Grijalva Basin. I marched onward, sweating, depleting my body of moisture and energy. At 6,200 meters, the trail leveled, and suddenly grew cool and damp, and dark. Forty-foot tree ferns stared at me with their umbrella heads. As we meandered deeper into the mountains, the temperature continued to drop, to approximately 55 degrees.

In late afternoon, the sun low, we broke into a modest meadow, grazed close but not overgrazed, surrounded by towering oaks four, five, six, and even eight feet in diameter, and who knows how old. Each oak, laden near breaking with clusters of bromeliads, two and three feet across. I was at El Triunfo, on the Continental Divide, in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, only thirty miles from the Pacific, but I had climbed the Atlantic slope.

Here, in what was to become and remain my favorite place in the world, I came to look for the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomacrus mocinno) and the Horned Guan (Oreophasis derbianus). El Triunfo is not on the way to anywhere (unless, by chance you need to get to Angel Albino Corzo from Mapastapec). It is not the most welcoming place generally cool or cold in the winter, and submarine wet in the summer.

I'm thankful for that, and for the fact that one must make a concerted effort to be there. It makes those who reach El Triunfo truly appreciative. However, I was doubly pleased because I had this biosphere reserve, and its slim staff of Vigilantes, to myself for five days - among the best five days in my life.

The Quetzal was not a problem. As the dense clouds scooted by just above the treetops, birdwatching was difficult, except for the quetzal, which stuck out boldly, even in the swaying treetops. A male's three-foot tail blew horizontally as I watched. Even if the Quetzal were a drab bird, its dippy, flute-like song gives it away, even from great distances. The Guan, however, is one of Mexico's rarest birds. A Pleistocene relict, its habitat steadily shrinking toward the mountain tops, the guan is a slow breeder, and perhaps, a slow thinker when it comes to evading the stew pot. It wasn't until the fifth day of repeated trips into ideal habitat, that I got lucky. Very lucky.

The big male--as big as an American Turkey, surprised us on the trail by flying within thirty feet and landing on a big, horizontal branch of an old oak. Too excited to contain ourselves, Marco and I made bold, gawking gestures to each other, pointing at the bird. The guan thereafter flew a few feet further away and put on a remarkable display. Lifting its head, it made a protracted sound, more like a noise-making party favor than a bird. There it allowed me to snap several camera shots which showed its remarkable 1-inch, scarlet-colored "horn" protruding upward from the top of its head.

This bird could nearly be considered the unicorn of the bird world.Horned Guans aside, El Triunfo was good to me, for its view of the Pacific Slope, for the mountain lion track I found, for the Squirrel Cuckoo, the White-faced Ground Dove, the Scaled Antpitta, and many other bird species. But it was the Vigilantes that made the place so warm and inviting to me, in spite of the fact that the weather made me wear long underwear and a down jacket.

Enelfo's guitar, Mauras folk songs; and Marco and Rafael were so warm and friendly, they made this foreigner feel right at home. I encountered my last gift of El Triunfo on the way down. An emerald green swallowtail butterfly posed open-winged for my camera, just inches away. If only El Triunfo weren't so far from Idaho. Oh but it IS another world!

The author lives in Idaho and is a wildlife ecologist with particular interest in Central American biota and the applications of geographical information systems (GIS) and satellite imaging technology to the landscape-based conservation of natural flora and fauna. Hobbies: conversational Spanish, folk guitar, birdwatching. Website: http://ci.moscow.com He can be contacted via email: tanimoto@turbonet.com

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