The Guadalajara Reporter

A brief guide to the Primavera Forest

Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, happens to be situated right next to a beautiful pine and oak forest covering more than 36,000 hectares. For as long as anyone can remember, el Bosque de la Primavera has been referred to as “Guadalajara’s lung” and in 1980, when big-time development plans threatened the woods, the entire forest, whether publicly or privately owned, was declared a Protected Area and Wildlife Refuge.

I have been living on the edge of the Bosque for nearly 30 years and have never ceased to be amazed at how many strange and wonderful things my friends and I have discovered within its boundaries.

The purpose of this writing is to offer a brief overview of some of the forest’s sites which I have found interesting. If any arouse your curiosity, you can then go to theguadalajarareporter.com, register for a free one-day subscription and then do a quick search for the in-depth article on the site you’re interested in.

Flora and fauna

The forest houses around 750 species of plants and at least 225 species of animals, including around 140 kinds of birds. By day you may come across white-tailed deer, ground squirrels, kingfishers, woodpeckers and road runners, while at night the woods come alive with raccoons, grey foxes, possums and more exotic animals like lynxes and even a few pumas.

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