The Return of the Jaguar

You can see from the top of the great pyramid of the ancient Maya city of Calakmul in the southern Yucatn Peninsula in Mexico. The jungle is an ocean of green with only two other Maya temples visible.

There weren't many other visitors when I was there. Calakmul used to be one of the largest and most powerful cities of the Maya world, but now it is in ruins and surrounded by the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, one of the biggest swaths of tropical forest in the Americas.

The black howler monkeys were awake at night. The roar of the loudest land animal in the world was heard from under the forest canopy. The jungle of Calakmul has the highest concentration of jaguars in the country.

A jais can lacerate a skull with a single bite. I knew it was unlikely that I would come face to face with a jaguar, because even highly skilled trackers need a long time to find them in the wild.

I was hoping for a glimpse of the great jungle cat that has fascinated this part of the world for thousands of years.

The jaguar was worshiped by the Maya as a deity because it could move between worlds at will. There are depictions of jaguars on masks, thrones, reliefs and sculptures. Ancient rulers and warriors wore the skulls, fangs, and claws of animals. No animal was more important than the one pictured.

The tomb of Calakmul's greatest ruler, known as Jaguar Claw, was found when archaeologists excavated the area in the 20th century. There are temples devoted to the animal in nearby settlements from Maryland to the Pacific Northwest.

Populations of the animal have been in decline since the range was reduced to less than half of what it was before. In Mexico, an alliance of ecologists, nongovernmental organizations and local communities have embarked on an ambitious project that has effectively pulled the species back from the brink. The number of jaguars in Mexico has increased from 4,025 in 2010 to 4,766 in 2018).

Ceballos said that by protecting the jaguar, you are protecting everything else in the area.

In 2005, Dr. Ceballos founded the Mexican Alliance for JaguarConservation, which is based in Mexico City, and has conducted some of the most comprehensive studies of the species, taking samples of fur, dung and parasites. They use the findings to come up with new strategies.

As the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve approaches completion, the alliance is more important than it has been before. Taking tourists from beach resorts on the Caribbean coast to archaeological sites inland will be part of the Tren Maya. The Mexican government resumed construction after opponents of the project obtained a temporary injunction.

The government agreed to route the train line according to the needs of the environment after news of the increasing number of jaguars. In order to connect it with other reserves in the area, it agreed to expand the Calakmul biosphere reserve beyond its 726,000 hectares. If the government keeps its word, we will end up with 1.3 million hectares of protected forest. It will be one of the biggest in the tropics.

After talking to Dr. Ceballos in Mexico City, I headed for Calakmul, which is located on the southeastern tip of the Yucatn Peninsula. I booked a night at one of the many palapa-roofed budget hotels that line the shore from there. Some of the oldest life on the planet can be found in the crystal clear waters of Bacalar. It is part of an important biological corridor for the jaguar that runs from Calakmul to Sian Ka'an.

Diego Valdovinos Ramirez, a 21-year-old guide who captained the group sailing excursion I took through the lagoon, told me that the jaguar is seen as a mythical animal by the people from here. The people remember even after a while. Light shined on the surface of the water, known as thelagoon of seven colors, but it has dulled in recent years due to development.

There is a roadside open-air cevicheria where foreign visitors and Mexican families can eat a variety of dishes, including a deep red sauce of ancho and r bol chiles. I walked down a long wooden pier to one of the palapa huts that sit on the lagoon and watched the sunset over the mangroves.

Anyone who has recently visited Cancn's receding shoreline or Tulum's beach road crammed with air conditioned hotels running on diesel generators knows of the ecological devastation that development has wreaked.

As we drove the next day into the state of Campeche toward Calakmul, we were told that 20 years ago the area was thick jungle. They destroyed the soil and turned it into a barren grassland by cutting down all the trees.

The Cardenista land reforms of the 1930s were the cause of many troubles in the Yucatn.

Local farming communities called ejidos have been involved in deals with the government. Calakmul ejidos are shifting their focus from ranching, agriculture and illegal logging to community forest management and organic products, like the silky Melipona honey that won over the Noma chef René Redzepi.

We stopped at the sites of two new eco-tourism projects, one of which is a jungle campsite visited by monkeys, pumas and the occasional jaguar. The accommodations in the Yucatn are low impact and run by ejidos.

The Bat Volcano is home to more than three million bats of eight species that swirl out into the air at night. There were turkeys crossing in front of the car as we moved into the rainforest. One of the most biodiverse places in the world is the Calakmul biosphere reserve.

The ancient city of Calakmul was once home to more than 50,000 people and was the site of the Ka'an dynasty's downfall. In the ancient plazas, carved monuments depict scenes from the city's former life in text and images.

It was high season but barely any tourists crossed our path. The ruins were surrounded by a forest. We climbed the largest temple in the world and looked out over the green expanse, listening to the jungle outside.

There are over 800 jaguars in the area. It's important for so many species.

Our eyes and ears were open for any sign of feline life as we explored the wilderness. We made our way out of the archaeological zone and stopped in the village of Xpujil for a snack and a drink.

The base camp for the Jaguar Alliance is a cluster of palapa huts around a small lake. The jungle was just waking up by the time we got there. The air vibrated with the sounds of many nocturnal animals. I retreated to one of the palapa huts and, after chasing off a large black tarantula that had somehow snuck inside and taken up residence above my bed, I let the tropical drones of Calakmul carry me off to sleep.

The members of the Jaguar Alliance were at the edge of the lake when I woke up. They use a tranquilizer gun to tranquilize the animal so they can attach a collar. A pack of hounds, a dog trainer and a well-known jaguar hunter are part of the team.

"At the beginning, people were critical; they said it's like putting the coyote in charge of the chickens." He said that he had all this experience. I knew how to get the jaguars to come to my place. They were in need of my assistance.

Don Pancho was 14 years old when he shot his first animal. Farmers in the area paid him with animals.

Most of the Americans who came to Calakmul to harvest chicle were working for chewing gum companies. Don Pancho said he used to get a $1,000 tip for a hunt but stopped after the practice was banned.

He said he didn't know he was damaging.

The jungle got under my skin even though I never saw a jaguar. The air was warm and the sounds of insects and birds were present. The monkeys were swinging through the branches. figs twisted up towards the sky It is impossible to destroy when you are in the jungle. The forest grows smaller over time.

According to Dr. Ceballos, in the last 20 years, 1.8 million hectares of forest have been lost. The jaguar program is part of a larger project to save the jungle before it is too late.

He said that they don't have the luxury of 20 years or more. In the next four or five years, what we save is what will be saved in the future.

Charly is a frequent contributor to the Travel section. Her work can be found on social media.