RFI: Yucatán (QRoo)
Hello,
Does anyone know any good cenotes for bats in the area around Tulum/playa del Carmen?I am staying with my family this week so won’t be able to do any side trips longer than a day but I’ll try to sneak out for a few hours here and there. If anyone has other advice or recommendations I am open to that as well, it will be my first time in Mexico. Maybe some scenic Mayan ruins I can convince them to visit which happen to have robust mammal populations?
No direct targets but will be looking out for dwarf porcupine, tamandua, paca, mouse opossums and other typical central am. lovelies. Already planned day trip to Cozumel for endemic raccoon/coati.
Thanks
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aditnehra
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JeffHigdon
My wife and I stayed at the Bahia Principe Luxury Sian Ka’An, between Akumal and Tulum, last fall (late September). It’s part of a complex of 4 resorts, with Sian Ka’an being the only one on the landward side of the highway. The other three are on the ocean side, all bigger, and much busier (and with kids, we picked the adults only one).
There is a small cenote between the main lobby building and the golf course at the adjacent Tulum Country Club. It’s fenced off, but you can see bats flying around the mouth. My detector (Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro) recorded bats there as Davy’s naked bats, Northern ghost bats, Mexican dog-faced bats, California myotis, and Greater sac-winged bats. The main building at the resort also has Velvety free-tailed bats roosting in the lobby. We visited Cenote Chukum on a day tour to Chichen Itza, but I didn’t see any bats there.
I saw deer on the golf course most nights, usually with my night-vision camera. Almost all were whitetail, but I did have a definite male brown brocket one night. I also saw agoutis, coatis, Yucatan squirrels and a gray fox on the resort. Also a frustratingly fleeting glimpse of a small arboreal mammal while spotlighting, that I wasn’t able to ID.
I don’t know if it’s possible to get access to the area without staying there, at either Sian Ka’An or one of the many options at the country club. But I assume it would be difficult.
Good luck!