by Allan Taylor

Does the idea of climbing to 3500 metres altitude to visit a butterfly sanctuary seem bizarre? To me it did. My previous butterfly experience was limited to the back garden when declaring war on the Cabbage White. Also I can recall the infrequent visit of a Red Admiral and the stately Monarch. The realm of butterflies is surely at sea level, more-or-less, and confined to the odd flutter around the flower and vegetable garden or hedgerows in the countryside.

To travel is to learn, so they say, and knowledge of butterflies is no exception! Last summer I rested up awhile at Morelia, the capital of Michoacán State in central Mexico. This is a beautiful region of lakes and volcanoes sprinkled with fascinating colonial-style villages and adjacent farms. The northern part of the state is mountainous and the pine-forested cordillera reaches to 3500 metres altitude .. not rocky and snow clad for here we are at latitude 20º north of the equator.

What to do? In Morelia there is no shortage of wonderful museums, art galleries and cathedrals to keep you busy for days. Impressive certainly, but I longed to do something different and see something unique! I examined the Tourist Office list of tours. Number one was a day tour to Los Santuarios de la Mariposa Monarca y Angangueo costing 480 pesos (ca.US$43) including transport, guide and lunch, available from November to March. Fascinating!... this I must see.

Next morning I was picked up by car at my hotel by Mavino, an English speaking guide, with two American tourists, and we headed off for an adventure! This central part of the state is a broad altiplano at about 2000 metres altitude, composed of tussocky plains with many shallow lakes, but here and there the relief is broken by a cindery volcanic cone. After a couple of hours of fast driving on the super carretera we entered the mountains and climbed along winding roads to the old mining town of Angangueo, at an altitude 3000 metres, which until recently (1950) was a centre of gold, silver and lead mining. Now it is the starting off point to visit the butterfly sanctuaries.

The monarch butterflies migrate from North America travelling over 4000 kms south to find a haven in the mountains of Mexico. They arrive at the sanctuaries by the millions at the end of October and leave in the middle of April. Up until 1975 it was thought that the monarch butterfly spent the northern winter in tropical climes but now their secret hideaways have been discovered and are preserved in sanctuaries. Some hideaways are only a 100 metres across found sheltered among the pine forests along the crest of the Sierra Madre of Michoacán State, Mexico.

The butterflies hibernate for the winter, occasionally braving snows and zero temperatures (no doubt less severe than in Canada and the Great Lakes Region). During the warm spring weather of March they come out of hibernation as sexually mature butterflies and commence to mate. After mating the males drop dead from exhaustion and the pregnant females fly north to the USA and Canada where they lay eggs on the milkweed plant, then die themselves. Soon the eggs hatch into caterpillars, these being gaudy black and yellow stripped critters, which proceed to devour the milkweed (or swan plant). After a few weeks of gorging themselves they build a chrysalis where they transform themselves into a beautiful butterfly, emerging in late May as a new generation of monarchs!

An advantage of being a male monarch is that you have only one 4000 km journey to make! Also I sympathize with the North American monarch butterfly. I have experienced 6 years of Buffalo winters and was glad to migrate to sunny Australia. The Australian monarchs don’t have to go through all this migratory rigmarole.

Only a few sanctuaries are open to tourists. We went to the Sierra Chincua sanctuary and drove to road’s end in a forest clearing on the hillside where there were several dozen primitive wood plank huts. One served as a ticket office selling entrance tickets and offering horses for hire at $10 a go. Our guide advised us wisely to take a horse explaining that there was still 5 kms of rough trail to negotiate. I happily paid up.

Each horse was lead by its energetic Indian owner at fast walking pace up the steep hill and along the top of the ridge. We hung on for dear life to the protruding wooden knob on front of the saddle. Eventually we reached another forest clearing which was the end of the horse trail. So far we had not seen one butterfly and I was beginning to think this to be a "wild goose chase".

While strolling another kilometre along the ridge top we encountered many other tourist groups coming and going and started to see the odd monarch butterfly fluttering through the trees.

Our guide indicated a steep path to take off the ridge and immediately we entered a fairyland of monarch butterflies. The air was thick with orange butterflies and the pine tree branches were so loaded with monarchs that you could hardly see the foliage. I sat on a log and watched in amazement. How friendly they were! They came to say hola and settled on your hat and on your outstretched arm. A notice nailed to a tree informed us "Silencio por favor! explaining in Spanish that butterflies can’t hear but are very sensitive to vibrations of sound. In other words, don’t talk!

We sat in silence in the filtered sunshine of the sweet smelling pine forest watching and revelling in the privilege of seeing their secret mating ground so isolated from the rest of the world. Through gaps in the trees we could look out onto more mountains and the distant plains. How clever these monarch butterflies are! Another notice informed us that the name "monarch" refers to the golden crown seen on the green chrysalis. But to me its superb colouring of

bright orange with contrasting black trim and white spots makes it the monarch of all butterflies.

After half an hour at the sanctuary we hiked back to our horses and then proceeded on horseback downhill to the park entrance without incident, except for acquiring a sore bottom. Our guide took us to visit a local family living in a log cabin where we had a tasty Indian-style late lunch. It took us 3 hours driving to return to Morelia by dusk. What a memorable day we all had!

You might like to try the following link if you are adventurous - it is helpful to be able to read Spanish - click here

The Guides	Welcome to the Park
"Silencio por favor"	"How friendly they were"

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