Back to Nature

About eight miles South of our RV Park is the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, a 2,088 acre tract of undisturbed native vegetation maintained by our National Park system for the benefit of native wildlife. It is located right on the Rio Grande River, with agricultural fields on three sides, but just native vegetation across the river to the South in Mexico. So the area available to wildlife on both sides of the river is far greater than just the 2,088 acres on the US side of the border.







Carole elected to stay at "The Bus" as she didn't think we would be seeing any animals or birds, so I made the trip by myself to get "Back to Nature" at the wildlife refuge.

The Refuge incorporates many miles of hiking and bike trails as well as a driving road which circles through the entire area. However, the driving road is not open in the Winter when all of the Winter Texans have migrated to the area. A large number of vehicles would greatly disturb the wildlife, so the driving road is only open in the summer . . . during the Winter months, the Winter Texans are chauffeured around the driving road in a tram with a driver and a guide.

I had to take the two hour tram ride so I could hear everything the guide had to say about the area.




Carole was right. We didn't see any animals and very few birds, but the descriptions of the flowers, plants and trees by the guide was very interesting. One of the wildlife species I was glad I didn't see was the colony of fire ants inhabiting this huge ant hill.

The ant hill covered an area about fifteen feet wide and thirty feet long! Can you imagine how many fire ants were in there?

Needless to say, I heeded the guides warning to not go in there.





The tram stopped at the Southern-most part of the Refuge for us to walk down a trail to the river. This picture is looking straight across the river into Mexico . . . no sign of "The Wall" here! The guide said "The Wall" would not be built through the refuge, that it would be constructed right up to the refuge on both sides . . . leaving an open corridor for illegal crossings. Oh, the wisdom of our Government!

The guide also mentioned that he frequently sees inter tube floats or plastic bags on the US side of the river, obviously left over from last night's crossings.




I also walked a couple of the trails, which was fun. Every trail wound through the desert forest among trees covered with hanging moss. Great solitude . . . and I did see an occasional bird, some holes dug by armadillos, and a little coyote scat. I didn't count the Turkey Buzzards circling overhead as we have those back in Kansas.


















Some trails led to wetlands where I was able to see several species of waterfowl . . . exciting for an old duck hunter. Several "blinds" were provided from which to view wildlife.


















Along one of the trails was an old cemetery, dating back to the early 1800's. Most of the people buried here were family members or ranch hands of a Mexican rancher who owned a 70,000 acre cattle ranch in this area when it was still a part of Mexico. Most of the graves were marked with simple wooden crosses made from local ebony wood.

Now that's a piece of history!







This area is one of the best locales in the Nation for bird watching, known around here as "birding". But there's a lot more here than just birding. The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge is, in my opinion, a jewel in our National Parks system. It's a wonderful place to get "Back to Nature".

It was a great day . . . Carole doesn't know what she missed.