The Macal River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

running through

Cayo District Cayo District is a district located in the west part of Belize. It is the most extensive, second-most populous and third-most densely populated of the six districts of Belize. The district's capital is the town of San Ignacio. Geography Bein ...

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 wa ...

. 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 continuou ...

and the

Belize Botanic Gardens Belize Botanic Gardens (BBG) is of native and exotic plants growing in the Cayo district of western Belize. The garden is in a valley on the banks of the Macal River, surrounded by the Maya Mountain foothills. The main focus of BBG is encouraging ...

. 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 ra ...

. 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 to form the Belize River. Lying to the east of the Macal River Basin is the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the premier sanctuary established specifically for conservation of the

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...

. 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 term ...

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 Chaa Creek is a tributary of the Macal River in the Cayo District in western Belize. One of the official gauging stations of the Macal is located near the confluence with Chaa Creek. There are Maya ruins that remain largely unexcavated in ...

and Cacao Camp. In the lower catchment basin, there is considerable overland friction to

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when the ...

due to the dense terrestrial detrititus and

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English The use of the English language in current and former member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British co ...

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 Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caus ...

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 fo ...

, 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' ...

is found within the Macal River catchment basin, including megafauna, avafauna, fish, reptiles, amphibians, as well as smaller mammals,

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

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 The Baird's tapir (''Tapirus bairdii''), also known as the Central American tapir, is a species of tapir native to Mexico, Central America, and northwestern South America. It is the largest of the three species of tapir native to the Americas, ...

, ''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 The rufous-capped warbler (''Basileuterus rufifrons'') is a New World warbler native from Mexico south to Guatemala, rarely occurring as far north as southeastern Arizona and south Texas. Birds in the southern part of the range are now split out ...

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 The chipping sparrow (''Spizella passerina'') is a species of New World sparrow, a passerine bird in the family Passerellidae. It is widespread, fairly tame, and common across most of its North American range. There are two subspecies, the east ...

are also evident. Raptors hunt among the valleys of Mountain Pine Ridge, and affords the most probable location in Belize to observe the

orange-breasted falcon The orange-breasted falcon (''Falco deiroleucus'') is a Near Threatened bird of prey in the family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It is found in southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Panama, and either definitely or probably in every So ...

Dam

The Chalillo Hydroelectric Dam was completed on the river in 2005 by Fortis Inc., the Canadian owner of the national electrical utility, about south of

San Ignacio San Ignacio (the Spanish language name of St. Ignatius (disambiguation), St. Ignatius) is a common toponym in parts of the world where that language is or was spoken: Argentina * San Ignacio, Argentina, Misiones Province * San Ignacio Miní, a ...

, 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 popu ...

. Several regional habitations are identifiable, including the

site and the unexcavated site at

.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 peop ...

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-Co ...

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 The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as t ...

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 wh ...

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

. 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 The morpho butterflies comprise many species of Neotropical butterfly under the genus ''Morpho''. This genus includes more than 29 accepted species and 147 accepted subspecies, found mostly in South America, Mexico, and Central America. ''Morp ...

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