Punta de Manabique is a small peninsula that separates

Amatique Bay Amatique Bay is a large bay in the Gulf of Honduras, along the eastern coast of Guatemala and Belize. It stretches from Santo Tomás de Castilla in the south to Punta Gorda in the north, where it opens to the Caribbean Sea. Its south-eastern lim ...

from the

Gulf of Honduras The Gulf or Bay of Honduras is a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. From north to south, it runs for approximately 200 km (125 miles) from Dangriga, Belize, to La Ceiba, Honduras. ...

. It is located on Guatemala's east coast, some 20 km north of

Puerto Barrios Puerto Barrios () is a city in Guatemala, located within the Gulf of Honduras. The city is located on Bahia de Amatique. Puerto Barrios is the departmental seat of Izabal department and is the administrative seat of Puerto Barrios municipality. ...

(). The peninsula was declared a wildlife reserve in 1999. The reserve is covered with

tropical rain forest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

s and mangrove forests. The higher parts of the peninsula have mahogany (''

Swietenia ''Swietenia'' is a genus of trees in the chinaberry family, Meliaceae. It occurs natively in the Neotropics, from southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America south to Bolivia. The genus is named for Dutch-Austrian physician Ge ...

'' spp.), ''

Manilkara ''Manilkara'' is a genus of trees in the family Sapotaceae. They are widespread in tropical and semitropical locations, in Africa, Madagascar, Asia, Australia, and Latin America, as well as various islands in the Pacific and in the Caribbean. A ...

'' spp., ''

Chrysophyllum ''Chrysophyllum'' is a group of trees in the Sapotaceae described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. The genus is native to tropical regions throughout the world, with the greatest number of species in northern South America. One species, '' C. ol ...

'' spp., kapok (''

Ceiba pentandra ''Ceiba pentandra'' is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae (previously emplaced in the family Bombacaceae), native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and (as the variety ''C. pentandr ...

''), while manicaria palms (''

Manicaria saccifera ''Manicaria'' is a palm genus which is found in Trinidad, Central and South America. It contains two recognized species: #'' Manicaria martiana'' Burret – Colombia, northwestern Brazil #'' Manicaria saccifera'' Gaertn. – Central America, T ...

''), and palosangre trees (''

Symphonia globulifera ''Symphonia globulifera'', commonly known as boarwood, is a timber tree abundant in Central America, the Caribbean, South America and Africa. This plant is also used as a medicinal plant and ornamental plant. Common names Common trade names of t ...

'') are found in swampy areas. There is a rich diversity of

molluscs Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estim ...

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

, fishes, amphibians, reptiles (crocodile, green iguana, turtles). Many species of seabirds are found in the reserve, from the orders of ''

Charadriiformes Charadriiformes (, from ''Charadrius'', the type genus of family Charadriidae) is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 390 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most charadriiform birds live near water an ...

''), ''

Pelecaniformes The Pelecaniformes are an order of medium-sized and large waterbirds found worldwide. As traditionally—but erroneously—defined, they encompass all birds that have feet with all four toes webbed. Hence, they were formerly also known by such n ...

'', ''

Ciconiiformes Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons a ...

''. Mammals include Baird's Tapir (''Tapirus bairdii'', jaguar (''Panthera onca''),

howler monkey Howler monkeys (genus ''Alouatta'', monotypic in subfamily Alouattinae) are the most widespread primate genus in the Neotropics and are among the largest of the platyrrhines along with the muriquis (''Brachyteles''), the spider monkeys (''Atele ...

(''Alouatta palliata''),

spider monkey Spider monkeys are New World monkeys belonging to the genus ''Ateles'', part of the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil. The ...

(''Ateles geoffroyi''),

collared Peccary The collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Tayassuidae found in North, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the genus ''Dicotyles''. They are commonly referred to as ...

(''Tayassu tajacu'') and

white-lipped Peccary The white-lipped peccary (''Tayassu pecari'') is a species of peccary found in Central and South America and the only member of the genus ''Tayassu''. Multiple subspecies have been identified. White-lipped peccaries are similar in appearance to ...

(''Tayassu pecari''). $27 million gas terminal. http://www.elperiodico.com.gt/es/20110519/economia/195588 Why and, why not at Punta de Manabique. http://www.elperiodico.com.gt/es/20110522/pais/195707

References

* FUNDARY 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110531022755/http://www.fundaryguatemala.org/home.htm Landforms of Guatemala Ramsar sites in Guatemala Protected areas established in 2005 Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System {{NorthAm-protected-area-stub