Tehuacán-Cuicatlán

Reserva De La Biosfera (CONANP) / Patrimonio Mundial Mixto · Zapotitlán Salinas, Puebla

A dry valley on the Puebla and Oaxaca border that UNESCO inscribed in 2018 as a mixed site, for two separate reasons at once. It holds one of the richest arid ecosystems in North America, with forests of giant columnar cacti standing thousands to a hillside, and it holds some of the earliest evidence of maize domestication anywhere, from caves in this valley, alongside ancient canals and dams. At Zapotitlan Salinas families still work salt pans their ancestors worked before the Spanish, a community-run botanical garden named for the cactus botanist Helia Bravo Hollis sits in the wild forest, and in the Sabino Canyon on the Oaxaca side military macaws nest in the cliffs and a community takes visitors to see them fly at dawn. Tehuacan town, famous for its mineral water, makes a base. It is hot, shadeless and spread out, so you need a car, a hat, a full day and ideally a guide. Few travellers stop here between Puebla and Oaxaca, and those who do remember it.

Jardín Botánico Helia Bravo Hollis, Zapotitlán Salinas, Zapotitlán Salinas, Puebla, 75840, Mexico

⚠ THE RESERVE IS LARGE AND ITS SITES ARE SPREAD ACROSS THE PUEBLA-OAXACA BORDER - a car is needed. The Jardín Botánico Helia Bravo Hollis, the Zapotitlán salt pans and the Sabino Canyon macaw trips are community-run, each with its own fee and daytime hours. ⚠ THE MACAWS REQUIRE A DAWN START. ⚠ THIS IS A UNESCO MIXED SITE (2018), inscribed for both biodiversity and archaeology. ⚠ EXTREME HEAT AND NO SHADE - go early and carry water. ⚠ DO NOT TOUCH OR TAKE CACTI. ⚠ HOURS AND PRICES NOT VERIFIED FOR THIS FILE.

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