Alto Golfo de California
The remarkable encounter of the Colorado River and the miracle of the Gulf of California, to visit is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness something truly spectacular.
The Alto Golfo de California is a the giant land and wildlife reserve of the Upper Gulf of California and the Colorado River Delta. The enormous area is recognized as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site and covers most of the land on both sides of the border between the states of Baja California and Sonora. On the coast the reserve area extends to Puerto Peñasco in Sonora, and nearly to Playa El Paraíso on the Baja California side. But it is Puerto Peñasco from which most visitors will set off on a trip into the delta region.
A number of charter boat services and tour providers will be happy to escort visitors into the deeper recesses of the river system. The reserve includes some 934,000 hectares between the two states. Most of these are accessible only by boat because the area is largely protected from the over development of roads and highways. The area is a refuge for whales, dolphins, sea lions, and tremendous schools of fish. Some 260 species of birds includes residents and those that visit but once a year.
A concert of wings, songs, and synchronized flights, it is remarkable in far more ways than can be counted. But the loss of freshwater flows into the delta as a result of 20th century dam construction up river has reduced delta wetlands to just five percent of what they used to be.
Although most visitors will arrive to the Alto Golfo via Puerto Peñasco in Sonora, to the north of the reserve are a number of recreational areas. These are on both sides of the Colorado River which serves as the border between the two states. The river also supports a significant agricultural community in the flatlands here. And some few visitors will approach the delta reserve area from this side. The entire areaa is about an hour to the south of the Mexicali International Airport.
