The seventh of February 2008, as well as being my 34th birthday, was the start of my travels to San Ignacio in northern Baja California Sur. San Ignacio is a palm oasis town in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, located between Guerrero Negro and Santa Rosalía. The town has a population of about 4,000 and grew at the site of the Cochimí settlement of Kadakaamán and the Jesuit Mission San Ignacio founded in 1728 by Juan Bautista Luyando.
At San Ignacio, Baja California’s arid Central Desert terrain gives way to a large grove of lush green date palms. A large spring-fed pond and small river on the outskirts of town feeds into the central plaza and village next to the eighteenth-century Jesuit mission. San Ignacio serves as the gateway to San Ignacio Lagoon, the winter time sanctuary of the Pacific Gray Whale.
It was with the Gray Whales and eco-tourism in mind we traveled. National Geographic asked me to shoot and produce a segment for an upcoming documentary for PBS and Wild Chronicles.
The drive up north from La Paz, takes approximately 6 hours. The drive was uneventful, apart from one military road block that refused to believe my assistant (Lulu) and I were Mexican. I guess the blond hair and being born in Belfast and London respectively was some cause for disbelief, pero somos Mexicanos, la neta guey!
For many years Baja California was the site of a very successful Whaling industry and many of the people in the area existed on the trade of Whale products. Thankfully this all changed when Gray Whales were granted protection from commercial hunting by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1949.
Since that time and increasingly over the last 20 years the local descendants of the Whalers have come to support a thriving and extremely well managed eco-tourism business, providing tours for tourists wanting to go Whale watching.
The survival of the Gray Whale and its positive journey from the brink of extinction. Is a story the Mexican people and government should be proud of. Along the lagoon of San Ignacio. There are several tourist camps. Operated under strict rules, as San Ignacio and the lagoon sit within the National Park and protected area of Vizciano. This effectively encourages a leave only foot prints attitude and tourists stay in temporary camps, utilizing solar and wind power.
We had the pleasure of staying with the excellent and extremely professional Campo Cortez . Tourists get to venture out into the lagoon with a boat captain and a marine biologist studying these beautiful creatures. The boats leave 3 to 4 times day, weather permitting.
The interactions we experienced during our 3 day stay, were phenomenal. Even the locals mentioned that, the Whales must know Nat Geo are here. The Whales certainly cooperated. After we completed our interviews and whale interactions we headed back to La Paz with one thought in our minds “We must come back here next year, working or not!”
