Cerro San Gil Reserve, Izabal: the Rainforest That Waters Puerto Barrios - Entrances, Birds, Who Manages It

Cerro San Gil is a forested mountain in the municipalities of Puerto Barrios and Livingston, Izabal, protected as a Reserva Protectora de Manantiales (spring-protection reserve) under Decreto 129-96 and co-managed by the foundation FUNDAECO; the Ministry of Culture calls it the only water source for Puerto Barrios. It has four entrances listed by the Ministry of Culture; neither the Ministry of Culture’s SIC listing nor FUNDAECO’s website gives an entry fee or opening hours (both read 9 November 2026).

In short: Decreto 129-96 (SIC; CONAP’s registry). Area 47,433 ha (CONAP registry) or 46,713 ha (MAR Fund project scope). Municipalities: Puerto Barrios and Livingston, Izabal. Administrator: Consejo Ejecutivo Local de Cerro San Gil; co-administrator FUNDAECO. 423 bird species, at least 84 mammal species, an Important Bird Area (ABC/FUNDAECO, 2021). Four entrances (SIC). No entry fee or hours on the SIC listing, FUNDAECO’s site or MAR Fund’s factsheet.

The SIC listing says it is the highest part of the Montaña del Mico, and describes clear streams running through the forest into waterfalls and pools, cloud forest in the upper part, and a cave on the río Juan Vicente. The point of the reserve, as its category says, is water.

Key facts and where they come from

The two area figures come from different documents and are not reconciled by either; the MAR Fund number describes the scope of a funded project.

Getting there: four entrances

The SIC listing (modified 13 February 2025) says access from Guatemala City is along the CA-9, the Atlantic highway to Puerto Barrios, and lists four ways in:

The listing gives no distances, road surfaces or travel times. For the drive along the CA-9 as far as the Río Dulce junction, see our Guatemala City to Río Dulce driving guide; the reserve’s municipal bases are Puerto Barrios and Livingston.

Fees, hours and visiting

Neither price nor opening time appears in the sources read for Cerro San Gil. The SIC listing has no hours or tariff section; FUNDAECO’s website lists the reserve among the areas it co-manages but publishes no visitor rates; MAR Fund’s 2026 factsheet describes a project, not a visit (all read 9 November 2026). CONAP’s SIGAP tourism portal also has a page for the reserve: check it, or ask FUNDAECO directly, for the current route, hours and any charge.

What exists on the visitor side, per the sources:

• Community tourism. FUNDAECO says its ecotourism programme helps communities take part in and benefit from tourism around five private nature reserves on Guatemala’s Caribbean coast. It does not list which ones on that page.
• Birding access. The 2021 ABC/FUNDAECO proposal says FUNDAECO runs a growing tourism operation for birders, cruise passengers arriving through Puerto Barrios and adventure travellers, and that the Tameja parcel it was buying has direct access by dirt road.
• Planned improvements. MAR Fund’s project (May 2024 to May 2027) includes designing a master plan for ecotourism sites with better toilets, trails, rest areas, signs and interpretation. That is a plan, not a finished facility.

Wildlife and forest

• Forest. The SIC listing says Cerro San Gil holds the largest remnant of tropical humid forest in Guatemala, with endemic plants, frogs, beetles and birds.
• Birds. The ABC/FUNDAECO proposal reports 423 bird species identified and says Cerro San Gil is registered as an Important Bird Area. A long-term monitoring site there has been surveyed every year for over 28 years by mist-netting and point counts. The SIC adds that more than 90 migratory species use its forests to winter or rest.
• Mammals. The same proposal lists at least 84 mammal species, including the jaguar and the tapir (Tapirus bairdii). The SIC says the tigrillo, jaguar and tapir are hunted illegally inside the reserve.
• Wood Thrush. In October 2022 American Bird Conservancy said FUNDAECO had bought two parcels of 566 acres each in the reserve with ABC’s support, to be managed for Neotropical migrants such as the Wood Thrush and the Cerulean Warbler. ABC says the Wood Thrush may spend up to 8 months a year there.

For where Cerro San Gil fits among Guatemala’s birding sites, see our birdwatching guide.

Why the water matters

The SIC listing calls Cerro San Gil the only water source for Puerto Barrios and its neighbours, with Santo Tomás de Castilla also supplied. It says the forest acts as a natural barrier that cuts sedimentation in the navigation channels of the Santo Tomás de Castilla and Puerto Barrios port complex.

Threats

The SIC listing names the advance of farming and cattle frontiers, hunting and illegal wildlife extraction, illegal logging, land occupation and settlements, and jaguar hunting. The ABC/FUNDAECO proposal says that while the law designates Cerro San Gil a protected area, no resources had been provided directly for its protection, and that FUNDAECO had acquired over 30 parcels inside it.

Safety

The State Department’s advisory (Level 3, 12 March 2026) does not name Izabal, and it advises against hiking trails without a qualified local guide, so arrange one through the co-manager before going in.

Related

• Puerto Barrios, Livingston and the Izabal department page
• Things to do in Río Dulce
• Birdwatching in Guatemala
• Punta de Manabique wildlife refuge, the coastal refuge reached by boat from Puerto Barrios
• How CONAP administers Guatemala’s protected areas

Sources

• Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, SIC listing, Cerro San Gil (modified 13 February 2025; read 9 November 2026)
• CONAP, protected-area registry, Cerro San Gil, and Plan Maestro, Reserva Protectora de Manantiales Cerro San Gil (read 9 November 2026)
• Ley de Áreas Protegidas, Decreto 4-89, Article 90, INAB copy (read 9 November 2026)
• MAR Fund, project factsheet, Reserva Protectora de Manantiales de Cerro San Gil (2026; read 9 November 2026)
• FUNDAECO, Sitios de enfoque and Programas (read 9 November 2026)
• American Bird Conservancy and FUNDAECO, Cerro San Gil Reserve project proposal (dated 2021; read 9 November 2026)
• American Bird Conservancy, Newly Protected Land in Guatemala Will Serve As a Winter Haven for the Wood Thrush (27 October 2022; read 9 November 2026)
• U.S. Department of State, Guatemala Travel Advisory, issued 12 March 2026