The Maya ruins of Yaxha, Topoxte Island, Nakum and Naranjo-Sa’al are very popular for bird-watchers and eco-tourists. We (FLAAR from USA and FLAAR Mesoamerica, Guatemala) have been accomplishing flora, fauna and ecological field work in this national park since 2018 (in addition to Hellmuth and his team mapping the pyramids, palaces, ballcourts, causeways and house mounds of Yaxha, Topoxte Island and Nakum in the 1970’s).
In late April 2025 we did field work with our registered Mavic 3 drone aerial camera and photography from the ground in several locations of impressive bio-diverse ecosystems in the Naranjo-Sa’al part of PNYNN. Here are two FLAAR Reports.
Savanna West of Maya Ruins of Naranjo-Sa’al
This Savanna is the final Kilometer of the North transition Zone from Bajo La Pita
Corozera at South Entrance to Naranjo-Sa’al Area of PNYNN
Corozo (Cohune), Guano, Botan, Escobo and Bayal Palms
Available for you to share with everyone on social media and send as an attachment is a monumental 207-page photo album of high-resolution photos of waterlilies of Maya rivers and lagoons of Guatemala.
The waterlily is the flower most often pictured in Classic Maya art—it is debated to what extent it is potentially hallucinogenic and to what degree it was used to imbibe by the Classic Maya. A publication in Mexico about 4 years ago features the water lily as a popular drug for the Classic Maya, but what is needed is more lab tests to determine what part of the plant was used and how it was prepared. I say this because in past decades some Peteneros said the plant had edible parts with no hallucinogenic effect.
The most popular revered flower
of the Classic Maya Civilization, Sacred Waterlily Eco-Systems of Guatemala
This photo album of the Maya water lily is an example of decades of FLAAR research on flora, fauna and ecosystems, especially wetlands.
The front cover is normal single-page size but the PDF is horizontal page format so can be used by professors to project for their classroom lectures.
Water Lilies of Mayan Areas of Guatemala
Gorgeous full-color photos at full-page size.
Mayan Water Lilies of Monterrico (Pacific Coast)and Arroyo Pucte (Peten), Guatemala.
Biodiversidad en el Rio Tres Arrollos, El Naranjo, Peten: Guatemala, Ciclo de Vida de Nymphaea Sp.
Waterlily Paradise, Lakeside, Riverside,
Creeks, Swamps, Nymphaea ampla, El Golfete
Municipio de Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala
Floating Heart, Water Snowflake, Nymphoides Indica, El Golfete. Livingston, Izabal
The research team at FLAAR (USA) and FLAAR Mesoamerica (Guatemala) have been studying water lily flowers in remote parts of Guatemala for many decades.
On Wednesday, February 19, at 8 pm ET, there will be a literally amazing PowerPoint presentation that shows rain forest ecosystems with amazing wild tropical plants that are edible.
We will show over 200 full-color photos of edible flowers and plants with other edible parts, including the largest native seed pod (as long as a long watermelon). The seeds could also make cacao (but the tree is not a Theobroma cacao tree). The flower of this Pachira aquatica, zapoton, tree is an inspiration for the “fleur de lis” painted on Late Classic Maya vases, bowls and plates.
There are over 600 wild plants in Guatemala that are edible and well over 200 of these are in the Reserva de la Biosfera Maya (RBM) of the north half of Peten (from Lake Peten Itza north to the Campeche border). The PowerPoint presentation via ZOOM will show you plants not in most documentary TV programs because no TV team wants to hike as deep into remote areas of the rain forests as the FLAAR team enjoys to explore.
IMS, Institute for Maya Studies, lecture organized by Jim Reed of IMS to be presented by Nicholas Hellmuth based on research on ecology and biology and biodiverse ecosystems of Peten during the recent six years by the entire team of biologists and ecologists of FLAAR Mesoamerica.
Posted February 21, 2025 Written by Nicholas Hellmuth
Here is the complete 220 pages of large-format full-color photos from recent six-years of research by FLAAR and FLAAR Mesoamerica in project of coordination and cooperation with CONAP for the Reserva de la Biosfera Maya.
Since there are many hundreds of edible plants of each biodiverse ecosystem we have focused on savannas and swamps that have not been previously visited or studied by any botanist, ecologist, geologist or archaeologist.
With high-resolution aerial photos and panorama photos from iPhone Pro and Google Pixel pano-mode you can see in this publication incredible scenes of the Neotropical area around the Maya sites of Naranjo-Sa’al, Yaxha, Nakum, Topoxte Island and El Peru-Waka’. You can now see what the Classic Maya had available to eat without slash-and-burn milpa agriculture.
Posted September 27, 2024 Written by Nicholas Hellmuth
We did field work one week each month for 18 months in the Municipio de Livingston, Izabal, a one year research project for flora and fauna in Parque Nacional Yaxha, Nakum and Naranjo (PNYNN) and had a three-year project with CONAP in the Reserva de Biosfera Maya (RBM) in Peten. The result was more than 30 TERAbytes of digital photos of flora and fauna.
On September 24, 2024, we were asked to give a lecture at INTECAP on edible plants of Izabal but since most of the other lectures at this conference were on Peten, we added photos and comments on edible plants of Peten.
There are thousands of pine trees in southern Peten and millions in Belize. There are millions more pine trees in the Highlands of Guatemala—but in the north half of Peten, in the Reserva de la Biosfera Maya (RBM) pine trees rarely exist—except for one tiny “island” of pine trees near Parque Nacional Tikal (PANAT).
The FLAAR Reports on El Pinal island of pine trees in the RBM, one in English, the other in Spanish) also includes a nice organization of the plants that ethnobotanist Cyrus Lundel documented there many decades ago.
Our reports show lots of tasiste palm trees in the pine forest—so the pine needles on the ground do not stop the tasiste. We use a registered drone for aerial photos never before published of this remarkable ecosystem. This field trip is part of our ongoing research in cooperation and coordination with CONAP and with the administrators of each national park.
Aerial photos, map, panorama photos from the ground, with text in English.
The complete report, with captions and introduction in Spanish.
