The Chichankanab Lagoon
The Chichankanab Lagoon (in Yucatecan Maya: Small Lagoon) is located in the northwest of the state of Quintana Roo. It is approximately 18 miles long and runs from the town of La Presumida to Kantemó.
The site offers the facilities to take tours and learn about the wonderful world around the lagoon. Here you can take pictures and videos of all kinds of birds and other animals.
What to expect
This lagoon is of clear green waters and has a great diversity of flora and fauna: among the flora, there are lily, fern, grass, mangrove and exotic bushes as savannah. Among the fauna, there are heron, gull, turtle, lizard, toucan, parrot, fish, snakes. There is an anecdote of an inhabitant of this place that even tells the story that several years ago he saw a huge snake, bigger than an anaconda.
On the other side of the lagoon, more than a mile and a half away, there are archaeological vestiges of the Mayan culture. They include monoliths and many more buildings.
The Chichankanab Lagoon: a little history
Among the inhabitants of the town there are several legends about the Chichankanab lagoon, about mermaids. Also, the ancient existence of a town that was buried under the water as well as on the other shore.
In February 2004 Chichankanab Lagoon got in the list as a protected site, protecting an area of almost 5 thousand acres. The site provides refuge for at least 97 species of migratory birds, representing at least 42% of the species recorded in the site.
In the month of March the Fiesta de la Primavera (Spring Festival) takes place in the municipal capital. Among the traditional dances are: the dance of the pig’s head in which people dance around a pig’s head cooked and decorated with chopped paper that a man, generally, keeps on his head dancing.
How to get there
To get to the lagoon is simple, from the Merida Chetumal highway is the mayor of Dziuché which is the main town between Yucatan and Quintana Roo, there you run into the main road of 4 kilometer leading easy location, this lagoon is the only one of its kind several kilometers from different towns, so much so that many Yucatecans come to enjoy the day.
