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| El Tamarindo
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By
Dr. Charles Sacamano, PhD |
| "If
this isn't paradise- it's something very much like it." |
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El
Tamarindo is an 860-hectare (2,100 acre) private
club on the Costa Alegre. It lies just 30 minutes
north of Manzanillo International Airport on Highway
200 and 3 hours south of Puerto Vallarta on the
same road. This project owes its existence to
the creativity of Grupo Situr, resort developers
throughout Latin America.
Grupo Situr has
established a reputation for ecological preservation
and ecoturism in resort development, and the private
club they have fashioned at El Tamarindo is at
once elegant and environmentally responsible.
The sheer beauty
of this place is sometimes intense, always extraordinary.
You become aware of this, the moment you enter
the property. A winding road carries you through
a dense stand of tropical vegetation where you
see huge shaggy-barked breadnut trees with Raring
serpentine buttress roots and oil nut palm whose
smooth gray trunks soar a hundred feet or more
into the air before reaching crowns of glistening
feathery foliage.
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Thick
vines twisting and curling up from the ground
climb to the highest limb of the tallest tree
and, in places, long slender streamers of Spanish
moss hang waving in the air. The roads at El Tamarindo
are not designed to test your new sports car for
0-60 mph acceleration. When there was a question
of saving a tree or eliminating a curve as these
roads were built, the tree won every time. The
result is a twisting, spiraling road through an
enchanted forest.
Visitors who come
to El Tamarindo by car (rather than by yacht or
helicopter) should probably have a designated
driver who promises not to be distracted by things
like coatimundi or deer dashing across the road
or exotic flowering trees that spread a thick
carpet of yellow, pink or purple flowers beneath
their branches.
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On
its western boundary, El Tamarindo boasts 14 Km
of shoreline on the Pacific Ocean. Two beaches,
Tamarindo and Majahua lie at the southern end
of Tenacatita Bay and a third, Playa Dorada, fronts
on the open ocean. Each of these exquisite beaches
has its own personality, but on each you will
see cobalt-blue waves frosted with purest white
foam unfurling on the sand. Most of the rest of
the coast falls steeply into the sea. Just offshore,
jagged outcroppings of rock, clusters of small
island and crashing surf offer the kind of scenery
that never grows tiresome.
Grupo Situr's concern for the
ecosystem at El Tamarindo has been put into action
with a program to protect coastal environment
and marine life. "Four species of sea turtles
nest on the beaches of El Tamarindo and we're
doing everything we can to increase their numbers",
informs a marine biologist at El Tamarindo. This
includes a training program for security personnel
at the project on how they can assist and protect
the females when they come on shore to lay their
eggs, determine if the nest sites are in a safe
place, and protect they young hatchlings on their
dangerous journey to the sea. It is interesting
to note that it is just as much the job of security
to protect and support the wildlife, as it is
the people who live at or visit El Tamarindo. |
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| Humpback whales
also mate and give birth in these waters. A biologist
tells of one pair of whales that were mating near
El Tamarindo's beach. "They were surrounded
by twelve circling dolphins that seemed very happy
and excited about this event.
The dolphins would put their
head underwater and repeatedly slap the surface
with their tails. It was as if they were giving
the whales a big round of applause!" While
fishing last winter, he saw a pod of six killer
whales off the coast at El Tamarindo. "Their
big dorsal fins looked like black sails rocking
from side to side as they followed my boat"
He is now studying inter-tidal
fauna at El Tamarindo with the goal of increasing
species over harvested by fishermen for many years.
This includes efforts to reintroduce oysters and
clams, which were once plentiful in the area.
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The largest coral reef along
the coast of Jalisco is located near El Tamarindo.
Along with the University of Guadalajara, the
Federal Fisheries Department and Sedesol, Grupo
Situr is engaged in a program of protection for
this fragile ecosystem. Signs have been posted
in the area warning that it is illegal to disturb
the coral or the birds, animals and plants associated
with it.
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None
of the environmental programs at El Tamarindo
get more emphasis than the one to protect its
native plants. The flora of this area is rich
in species diversity.
At Cuixmala an
area just north of El Tamarindo, botanists have
identified 1,083 species of native plants in 543
genera of 124 families. About 60 of these species
are believed to occur in the adjoining states
of Jalisco and Colima and nowhere else in the
world.
A fundamental principal
in the development of El Tamarindo is that land
disturbance is held to a minimum and disturbed
areas must be reforested according to a set of
strict guidelines.
For example, the
specific mix of plant species and plant densities
are designed to be compatible with and preserve
the integrity of the existing forest.
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A landscape architect
with training in ecology coordinated the reforestation
program at El Tamarindo. He also manages a nursery
in which only native plants are produced. "Most
of these plants have never been cultivated and
we have no information on how to grow them under
nursery conditions", he says. "We are
developing our own technology as we go which is
quite a challenge and exciting."
Those who become
members at El Tamarindo and build homes here,
select landscape plants from the native species
grown in the nursery. No exotic plant species
may be brought into the project site. Considering
the wide range of attractive plants that are native
to the arm that's scarcely a limitation. In the
future a botanical garden and special orchid display
area will expand the range of native plant projects
at El Tamarindo.
Many others have
contributed to the success of El Tamarindo's ecological
programs. Environmental consultants, landscape
architecture consultants, soil specialists, foresters
and plant scientists have had a hand in this work.
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El Tamarindo has
a full range of amenities that you might expect
to see in one of the finest luxury private clubs
in the world.
There is a yacht
club, a tennis club, and a spectacular 18-hole
golf course designed by renowned golf course architect
David Fleming. You'll learn about these and other
facilities when you visit El Tamarindo, and you'll
discover that security and privacy for club members
is a top priority.
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Spend a few days
in this serene paradise if you want to know it
better. Watch a swollen red run settle into the
sea and fill the vault of the heavens with a soft
violet afterglow. Walk down a jungle trail through
canyons of light and pools of deep shade.
When the moon is full the same
path becomes a stream of flowing quicksilver and
you seem to glide rather than walk down it. And
then, amid this astonishing profusion of natural
beauty, you experience in a richer, more primeval
way "the dance of life" and an inner
voice whispers, "If this isn't paradise-
it's something very much like it."
By Dr. Charles Sacamano PhD Yates y Villas
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