






































Iguana b&w text


42 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2008 KERN

Shopping in Guatemala is a treat, with shops loaded with handcrafted cultural artifacts.



IGUANA  •  VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2008 43TRAVELOGUE

This past December, I had the opportunity to travel to
Guatemala with members of the Project Heloderma team

that included Brad Lock of Zoo Atlanta and John Binns and
Desire Wong from the International Reptile Conservation
Foundation. The purpose of the trip was simple, team up with
our partner Zootropic and consummate a land deal in the
Motagua Valley. This land would be used to establish a reserve,
breeding facility, and research and education center to help pro-
tect the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard (Heloderma horridum
charlesbogerti), the Guatemalan Black Iguana (Ctenosaura
palearis), and the unique ecosystem in which they live.

The trip was short, lasting only one week. The primary
focus was the land transaction, but we also visited a few of the
many Guatemalan tourist sites. Specifically, we flew into
Guatemala City and toured for a day. In the evening, we visited
our host, Zootropic’s headquarter building, and conducted the
land transfer ceremony. The next day, we headed into the
Motagua Valley, where we visited the land just purchased and
got a first-hand look at the rare ecosystem that supports these
amazing creatures. We also reviewed the development plans for
establishing the breeding, research, and education complex to be
established on the property. After that trip, we wound down by

T R A V E L O G U E

The Guatemalan Beaded Lizard (Heloderma horridum charlesbogerti) makes its home on the steep mountainsides bordering the Motagua Valley.

The Guatemalan Black Iguana (Ctenosaura palearis) also occurs in and
around the Motagua Valley. Both the Beaded Lizard and the Black
Iguana will benefit from the newly established reserve.

Surprising Guatemala: 
A Journey with a Cause

Michael D. Kern

Palo Alto, California

Photographs by the author except where noted.



spending a few days in Antigua Guatemala, the country’s ancient
capital city. Finally, we traveled back to Guatemala City to catch
our flights home.

Although this was my first trip to Central America, I have
traveled and worked in over 30 countries around the world and
pretty much thought I knew what to expect from a developing
country, namely, amazing natural beauty under siege from
bustling cities living on a decaying infrastructure. So, I set my
expectations accordingly…. Boy, was I ever wrong.

First of all, unlike journeying to many expedition destina-
tions, traveling to Guatemala from the United States is quite
easy. Instead of having to travel through the International Date
Line on a journey of consecutive daylong plane flights, this was
a mere five-hour flight from Los Angeles, resulting in a rather
pleasant overnight journey. We left LA in the evening and
arrived at dawn the following day in Guatemala City. For Brad
Lock, the trip was even easier, a three-hour flight within the
same time zone. Although we battled long lines at the airport,
once inside the plane, all was good — and the flight was short,
sweet, and uneventful. 

We arrived in Guatemala City and were greeted at the
newly renovated airport by members of the Zootropic team who
would serve as our hosts during this visit. We checked into the
charming Hotel Otelito, which was once a private mansion. It’s
modern, open, and intimate design could easily have been fea-
tured in the pages of Architectural Digest. We freshened up and
started our tour. In the old town center, we visited one of the
largest markets I have seen. During all of my travels, I have

learned that the best place to determine how culturally different
you are from the country you are visiting is in the markets and
the churches. I already had been pleasantly surprised by the easy

44 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2008 KERN

Aerial view of Guatemala City.

JO
H

N
 B

IN
N

S

One of the many exotic vendor stands in the central market in
Guatemala City.



IGUANA  •  VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2008 45TRAVELOGUE

trip and the quality of our hotel, but this market made me drool
at what I saw. The colors — no, I should say THE COLORS
were out of this world. The labyrinthine corridors of this
indoor/outdoor market presented us with a wealth of cultural
artifacts including textiles, clothes, and statues along with fruits,

vegetables, meat, fish, shoes, and wedding dresses. The people,
a mix of Indian and European descent, were happy, warm, and
responded to our amazement with laughter — without a doubt
a unique and unforgettable sensory experience.

Next, we visited the Zootropic facility where many of the
indigenous reptiles used to support the research and educational
programs are kept. This was like a private tour through an amaz-
ing zoo. A diversity of indigenous snakes, lizards, and arachnids
was on display. We were able to take pictures of some of the
most beautiful vipers in the world, including Bothriechis aurifer,
B. bicolor, and B. schlegeli — and, of course, several of the few
captive Guatemalan Beaded Lizards in the world were there too.
These rare animals are slated to become genetic founders at the
proposed breeding facility. During our visit, we learned from the
Zootropic field personnel about the different species and their
native habitats.

That evening, we walked the few blocks from our hotel to
the Zootropic office. The meeting between the Paiz family who
sold the land, Zootropic, Zoo Atlanta, and IRCF personnel was
quite interesting. Mr. Paiz talked about the history of the land
and the hopes of his family to establish a foothold for conserva-
tion in this unique area. We learned how, over time, the area had
changed and about the current challenges facing the people and
animals that live there. Clearly, life in this region is out-of-bal-
ance, with humans rapidly converting all available area into
farmland. The meeting was rather emotional, mainly because
everyone felt strongly that this transaction was the first major
salvo in the battle to protect this critically endangered area and
its native species. Everyone shared perspectives over a few glasses
of Guatemala’s famous Ron Botran, which happens to be pro-
duced by the family of Zootropic’s president, Rodrigo Botran.
After the meeting, we returned to our hotel exhausted, content,

The Palm Pit Viper (Bothriechis aurifer) is an attractive but venomous
pitviper found in Guatemala and Mexico.

Project Heloderma Team Members from Zootropic, Zoo Atlanta, and the IRCF presenting a check for the land. From left: Daniel Ariano,
Zootropic, Brad Lock, Zoo Atlanta, Mr. Paiz, previous landowner, John Binns, IRCF, and Rodrigo Botran, Zootropic.



and anxiously awaiting tomorrow’s journey into the Motagua
Valley, the remarkable area we had been working to protect for
the past two years.

The trip from Guatemala City to the Motagua Valley in the
department (state) of Zacapa took a few hours by car, and then
another hour or so before we reached the property itself. By this
time, we were off the paved roads and traveling by car
“upstream” in a dry riverbed. You can read all you want about
why this area is unique, but being there helped me understand
its singular place in our world. Where to begin? First of all, the
Motagua Valley is located at the foot of the Sierra de las Minas,
which rise to 3,000 m above sea level. These mountains create a
natural barrier to the moisture that originates over the Atlantic,
resulting in the uniquely xeric region.

The area also is interesting from a geological perspective,
since the Motagua Valley sits over the junction of the Caribbean
and North American plates, an area rich in earthquakes and vol-
canoes attributable to the intense geological pressure caused by the
two plates grinding against one another. The region also produces

some of the best translucent blue jade in the world, which was
mined by Mayans at the peak of their reign over Middle America.

The Motagua Valley contains two unique habitat zones, a
subtropical thornscrub and a subtropical dry forest. The dry
forests are of the greatest interest to Project Heloderma, because
that’s where the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard resides at elevations
of 300–800 m. Not so coincidently, this is exactly the terrain
and elevation where the purchased property lies. To find the site,
Zootropic had conducted a number of studies to determine the
land best suited for this purpose using a method called “Multi-
Criteria Evaluation.” Simply stated, this process examines the
intersection of appropriate vegetation, temperature, slope, and
elevations within a region to determine the potential distribu-
tion of a given species. The data for this study are generated by
the conditions at sites where animals were actually sighted. The
team is excited about this property specifically because it is in
the center of the largest contiguous geographic area that matches
the unique requirements of the Beaded Lizard. This means that
the reserve potentially can expand. Already, discussions are

46 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2008 KERN

The Motagua River cuts through the Motagua Valley, providing a rare
source of moisture.

The Guatemalan Beaded Lizard (Heloderma horridum charlesbogerti) is
amazingly agile and can easily climb trees in search of food or safety.

The Motagua Valley is rapidly being converted into farmland, which reduces the native habitat needed for the survival of many critically endan-
gered indigenous species.



IGUANA  •  VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2008 47TRAVELOGUE

underway with neighboring landowners who are considering
that sale of adjacent lands to Project Heloderma.

For me, the most unique aspect of the land is the admixture
of thornscrub and dry forest in a single area. I was used to seeing
areas of thornscrub and I was used to seeing dry forests, but never
in the same place. The difference is subtle but noticeable. I mean,
how often can you find cactus in the middle of a forest?

When we finally arrived at the property, we were greeted by
members of the Zootropic field team, who happened to have

with them a recently captured juvenile Ctenosaura palearis that
they were measuring. We also brought with us one of
Zootropic’s breeding Beaded Lizards, so we could take photo-
graphs of the rare species in its natural habitat. After a few hours
of hiking and photography, we returned to the property gate to
talk about the future plans for the site.

We then headed into El Arenal, one of the major villages in
the area. Here we met with Gilberto Salazar, who is Zootropic
Biologist Daniel Ariano’s field assistant and the village liaison to
Project Heloderma. While in the village, we talked to many local

The thornscrub terrain of the Motagua Valley.

John Binns and Desiree Wong survey the newly acquired land in the
Motagua Valley.

Removing the mystery and fear surrounding the Beaded Lizard and
educating local villagers on the value of conservation of endangered
species is a critical component of Project Heloderma.

Antigua is considered to be one of the best-preserved colonial cities in
Spanish America. UNESCO has declared it a World Heritage Site.



people about why we were there, and, since we had a Beaded
Lizard with us, conducted some impromptu educational sessions
with both the young and old, helping them understand the
value and unique qualities of the creature and the land sur-
rounding them. Through these educational sessions, the project
seeks to dispel old fears and habits that more often than not,
resulted in the killing of any lizard found by residents. Especially
by working with the children, the project hopes to create a more
conservation-friendly generation. These ongoing educational
efforts appear to be working. Recently, a villager happened to
catch a Beaded Lizard and was offered a large amount of money
to sell it into the illegal exotic pet trade, but he instead offered
the animal to Zootropic to help establish the necessary stock
required for the breeding facility being constructed on the
recently purchased land.

With the business of the trip complete and less than two
days before we returned stateside, we headed to Antigua
Guatemala (i.e., “Old Guatemala,” often just called Antigua),
the country’s erstwhile colonial capitol. Considered by many to
be the best-preserved colonial city in Spanish America, it is a
well-kept secret in the international tourist world. Simply put,
Antigua is beautiful, and the Spanish influence can be seen
everywhere. At an elevation of 1,500 m, it lies in the shadow of
three majestic and active volcanoes that provide a unique and

unmistakable landscape. Antigua also is a cultural shopper’s
Mecca well known for its crafts. Store after store present wares
ranging from silver and jade jewelry, wooden sculptures, tradi-
tional costumes, textiles, and weavings to crafts made from ter-
racotta, ceramics, and/or wrought iron. If you’re not interested
in shopping, simply stroll down the cobblestone streets and
among the pastel buildings. Visit one of the many churches or
sit in the town square and watch the people go about their daily
routines. A number of great restaurants grace the town, and the
hotels fit right into the architectural/historical landscape. A vis-
itor really feels like he’s in an old Spanish colony.

Antigua was the last of many pleasant surprises on this trip.
After two days of enjoying the slow pace of colonial Guatemala,
we returned to Guatemala City and caught our flights home.
What a magical week it had been. After all, this was supposed to
be a working trip and we were going to a developing country that
was bursting at its seams. I couldn’t have been more wrong — and
the most amazing thing? We hadn’t even visited many of the most
famous tourist sites that the country has to offer, notably the
Mayan ruins at Tikal or Quetzaltenango, beautiful Lake Atitlán,
or the tropical rainforests in the northern lowlands. Certainly, I
will return to Guatemala to see how the reserve matures and the
breeding programs develop, but also to renew friendships made
and to see the many wonders of this beautiful country.

48 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2008 KERN

The beautiful Spanish colonial city of Antigua is surrounded by three active volcanoes.




