San Pedro de Vice Mangroves

Mangroves need warm water and they thin out southward along the Pacific coast of the Americas until they stop; San Pedro de Vice in Piura is where they stop, the southernmost stand on this coast, separated from the Tumbes mangroves near the Ecuadorian border by hundreds of kilometres of desert shoreline. That isolation makes it biologically significant and precarious - the forest covers a few thousand hectares of estuary at the mouth of the Piura river, with red and white mangrove, mudflat and salt marsh, and it depends entirely on freshwater reaching it, which irrigation upstream and drought both reduce. It is a Ramsar site. Birds are the visible interest: herons, egrets, ibis, roseate spoonbill, flamingo and large numbers of migratory waders, along with crabs, and local families harvest shellfish and crab in the channels. Facilities are minimal - a viewing tower, trails, and boats arranged with local guides.

What you actually see

• The southernmost mangroves - the last stand on the Pacific coast of the Americas.
• The estuary birds - herons, spoonbill, flamingo and migratory waders.
• The crab and shellfish harvest - local families working the channels.
• The isolation - hundreds of kilometres of desert coast to the next mangroves.

When to go

April to November. Tides govern boat access to the channels - arrange with local guides who know them. Early morning for birds. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Minimal facilities - a tower, trails and informal boats. Mosquitoes and heat in the channels. The forest is under pressure from reduced freshwater flow and its future is not secure. Local guides are arranged in the village.

Nearby

Sechura and the desert are south; Piura city is east.