Visiting La Mosquitia, Honduras

La Mosquitia can be described as the biggest territory of the virgin tropical rainforest of Central America as well as Northern Hemisphere. Often, people, especially the tourists coming to this part of the world refer to this region as the mini Amazon. La Mosquitia covers a large part of northeastern territories of Honduras and is mainly home to several rural settlements. La Mosquitia is not an extremely populated part of Central America; the villages of this region are sparsely populated by indigenous groups such as Miskitos, Pech, Garifuna and Tawahka.

La Mosquitia houses 5 separate natural zones; they are: Tawahka Anthropological and Río Plátano Biosphere Reserves, Cruta Caratasca Wildlife Refuge, Patuca National Park and Rus Rus Biological Reserve. Majority of these natural zones are still untouched and are inhabited by different rare and common wildlife. There are not many tour companies arranging tours to this part of Central America. You will come across only one or two indigenous tour agencies that offer trips to La Mosquitia.

La Mosquitia was inhabited for the first time during the 1000 B.C. The first inhabitants were Indians, who used speak Chibcha as their mother tongue. They came to this Central American terrain from countries of South America. It is also believed that Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of Americas halted in region for some days in the year 1502.

The most exciting way of reaching this part of Honduras is by boat. In Honduras’s north coast, you will come across boat services that will take you to La Mosquitia. However, boasts are not available on each day of a week; you will have to be aware of the departure time and date of the boat and book your seat in advance.