This was one of those spine tingling locations that I never would have visited if it was not for the place on the world heritage list. Even with high expectations nothing really prepared us for the astounding moment when thousands of butterflies burst into the air, a real life enhancing moment!

After a wonderful night in front of a log fire in the highly recommended Don Gabino hotel in Angangueo, we had a knock on the door with a friendly local english speaking guide offering his services for the day. Delighted we set off for Sierra Chincua sanctuary, which he said offered an easier ascent and a better viewing experience, both seemed accurate to us. He said that the best viewing experience is at Cerro Pelón, however it is a more remote cluster and is a three hour hike each way to visit it. At Sierra Chincua We actually had the whole sanctuary to ourselves, only encountering other visitors as we were departing.

The initial view of the clusters of monarchs hanging in the trees showed them in giant clumps, looking like dead leaves. As we delved deeper there were more and more of these giant clusters the sheer quantity was staggering. It was still cool and they were mostly all huddled together but there were still a lot stretching their wings and flying around. Being the only people around I was amazed that I could actually hear the butterflies flapping their wings as they fluttered around the tree tops or came close to pay us a quick inquisitive visit.

Due to the cloud conditions our guide recommended a short break at a viewpoint, which showed the landscape of dormant volcanoes and gave us a chance to take in what we had seen. On our return to the butterflies our guides intuition proved precise, a small change in the micro climate meant that more and more monarchs were up and flying. Standing in amazement at the spectacle in front of us we weren't prepared for a small cloud briefly covering the sun, ... and then ... a burst of activity. From every tree thousands of butterflies all took off at once, filling the sky and leaving us awestruck. Everything else just stopped and for one brief moment the only thing that mattered was the spectacle in front of us.

A wonderful world heritage site and a life enhancing experience.

[Site 9: Experience 9]