The Macal River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

running through Cayo District in western

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

. Sites along the river include the ancient

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

town of

Cahal Pech Cahal Pech is a Maya site located near the town of San Ignacio in the Cayo District of Belize. The site was a palatial, hilltop home for an elite Maya family, and though the most major construction dates to the Classic period, evidence of continuo ...

and the Belize Botanic Gardens. The Macal River discharges to the

Belize River The Belize River runs through the center of Belize. It drains more than one-quarter of the country as it winds along the northern edge of the Maya Mountains to the sea just north of Belize City (). The Belize river valley is largely tropical rai ...

. There are several tributaries to the Macal River including the following streams: Privassion, Rio On, Rio Frio, Mollejon and Cacao Camp. The size of the Macal River catchment basin is approximately 1492 square kilometers. The Macal River rises in a rugged portion of the

Maya Mountains The Maya Mountains are a mountain range located in Belize and eastern Guatemala, in Central America. Etymology The Maya Mountains were known as the ''Cockscomb'' or ''Coxcomb Mountains'' to Baymen and later Belizeans at least until the mid-2 ...

and flows in a northerly direction where it joins with the

Mopan River The Mopan River is a river in Central America spanning the Petén Department of Guatemala and the Cayo District of Belize. It merges with the Macal River at Branch Mouth, Belize, forming the Belize River, which ultimately discharges to the Caribbe ...

to form the Belize River. Lying to the east of the Macal River Basin is the

Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is a nature reserve in the Stann Creek District of south-central Belize. It was established to protect the forests, fauna and watersheds of an approximately area of the eastern slopes of the Maya Mountains. ...

, the premier sanctuary established specifically for

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

of the jaguar. Due to the steep terrain of the headwaters region and the high rainfall of the upper Macal Basin, the Macal River is subject to rapid stage height rise, contributing significantly to the downstream flooding of the Belize River.Ross Wagenseil, ''Investigations of the Belize River: Modeling Flow Overland to the Macal Tributary'', Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project: Unit of Sustainable Development and Environment, Organisation of American States, Washington, DC, November, 1999
/ref> By legend, the river is named after a beautiful young girl ''Macall'', an uncommon name. The lower river is navigated year-around with

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

Hydrology

The Macal Rivershed is divided into two sub catchment basins. The headwaters and upper basin comprise about 1000 square kilometers and rest in the southern Maya Mountains, whilst the lower basin is known as the Mountain Pine Ridge catchment. The soils in the upper watershed tend to be shallow and rocky, leading to rapid runoff. All of the upper catchment tributaries join the mainstem channel considerably before Guacamayo, the approximate join point of the two connecting sub-sheds of the Macal River. Peak flows follow the rainy season of June to August, with tailing rains until February; lowest flows are in the dry season from March to May. For the lower Macal River catchment (or Mountain Pine Ridge area), tributary streams are arranged radially to feed the mainstem; principal lower basin rivers are the Privassion, Rio On, Rio Frio, Mollejon, Chaa Creek and Cacao Camp. In the lower catchment basin, there is considerable overland friction to surface runoff due to the dense terrestrial detrititus and

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abo ...

on the forest floor, even though the forest canopy itself is sometimes sparse. The retarded runoff of this lower sub-watershed allows the rapid peak runoff of the upper watershed to overtake the flow within Mountain Pine Ridge, forming an effective single massive peak wave, which exacerbates downstream

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...

in the Belize River, and, in fact, controls the flood stage of the larger Belize River. This effect of simultaneous peak flow is further enhanced by the radial geometry of the lower Macal Basin tributaries, encouraging all sub-basin flow to reach the mainstem at approximately the same time.

Ecology

The Macal River winds through large expanses of primary and secondary growth broadleaf

tropical forest Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical fore ...

, including a substantial tract of the Chiquibul Forest Reserve and National Park The watershed consists of closed canopy upland forests as well as a fertile floodplain, which is often overgrown with dense jungle vegetation trailing into the verges of the river itself. Considerable

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

is found within the Macal River catchment basin, including megafauna,

avafauna Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight s ...

, fish, reptiles, amphibians, as well as smaller mammals,

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

s and plants. The Macal watershed is

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

to over a dozen rare and endangered species. Two Important

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

megafauna found here are the jaguar, ''Panthera onca'', and Belize's largest land animal, Baird's tapir, ''Tapirus bairdii'', which is also the national animal of Belize. There is abundant birdlife in the Macal Basin; for example, in the Mountain Pine Ridge sub-watershed alone are found: the rufous-capped warbler,

crossbill The crossbill is a genus, ''Loxia'', of birds in the finch family (Fringillidae), with six species. These birds are characterised by the mandibles with crossed tips, which gives the group its English name. Adult males tend to be red or orange in ...

, pine siskin and

eastern bluebird The eastern bluebird (''Sialia sialis'') is a small North American migratory thrush found in open woodlands, farmlands, and orchards. The bright-blue breeding plumage of the male, easily observed on a wire or open perch, makes this species a f ...

. Between autumn and spring, the hepatic tanager and chipping sparrow are also evident.

Raptor Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on ...

s hunt among the valleys of Mountain Pine Ridge, and affords the most probable location in Belize to observe the orange-breasted falcon.

Dam

The Chalillo Hydroelectric Dam was completed on the river in 2005 by

Fortis Inc. Fortis Inc. is a St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador-based international diversified electric utility holding company. It operates in Canada, the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean. In 2015, it earned . Fortis was formed in 198 ...

, the Canadian owner of the national electrical utility, about south of San Ignacio, Belize. The construction generated controversy over its effect on the surrounding rain forest.

Prehistory

The lower portions of the Macal Watershed were extensively occupied by the ancient

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

. Several regional habitations are identifiable, including the

site and the unexcavated site at Chaa Creek.C.Michael Hogan, ''Chaa Creek'' Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham, 2007
/ref> These sites were centroids for larger

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

populations, and are deemed to be satellite cities that may have been under the influence of

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-C ...

Caracol Caracol is a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District, of Belize. It is situated approximately south of Xunantunich, and the town of San Ignacio, and from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Plateau ...

. The Mayan urban society collapsed in this watershed in the ninth century AD, likely related to the exhaustion of agricultural resources, or reaching of the limited carrying capacity of this region of nutrient poor soils, with possible aggravation of social factors.

Ecotourism

Whilst the highest reaches of the watershed are only accessible to the most hardy of hikers, the Mountain Pine Ridge area is available to travellers by auto (not bus). Most of the recreation in this reach is within the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, a national Park of Belize. In addition to hiking trails into the wilderness, this reach is the location of Belize's largest

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

caverns, which allow subsurface exploration by tube flotation on the clear aquifers which are illuminated by occasional vertical lightshafts reaching the surface. The most extensive of these aqueous caverns is the Rio Frio area. In the lowest reach there are a number of jungle resorts which offer access to the banks of the Macal for flotation or

trips to San Ignacio. Except for the peak flow periods of June to October, it is feasible to canoe upstream against the current in this reach. There are several rapids in the lower reach, but overall canoeing difficulty is only moderate. There is a replica working Mayan farm and a morpho butterfly preserve as well as a small Mayan museum in the lower watershed on the western side of the Macal River.

References

{{coord, 17.1750, N, 89.0806, W, source:wikidata, display=title Rivers of Belize Cayo District Mopan River Belize River

Hydrology

Ecology

Dam

Prehistory

Ecotourism

See also

References