I’ve often found knowing less about a place before arriving creates lots of wonderful surprises. In Isla Mujeres, one of these surprises is the wildlife.
Iguanas
The iguana lizard flourishes on this island and can be spotted regularly in spite of urbanisation. We visited Hacienda Mundaca and found it was overrun with iguana. And when we went to Garafon there were lots about to keep the kids engaged and partially freaked out when they were eating.
House Lizards
As in most hot climates, their tends to be one or two house geckos living inside your place. We had one in the kitchen, one in the lounge and sometimes one in one of the bedrooms. Plus there were at least three outside the front door. Our little ones loved spotting them if they came out of hiding. They would sometimes fan out their neck or bob their head up and down and every so often would call out to let us know they were there.
Pelicans
On Playa Nota the pelican bird is a common feature to the beach where you can snap photos of the birds diving into the water or perched on a breaker.
Frigates
These amazing birds cannot swim or walk. They fly high above the lake or ocean and dive down grabbing fish with their strong legs. They spend most of their time flying around but when they perch, they prefer the nearby mangrove trees. Because we were next door to the lake we saw many frigates flying here in the morning.
Other animals we’ve spotted
We were lucky enough to see one of the smallest birds on the island. To the unknowing eye it looks like a butterfly fluttering speedily by. Unfortunately, we didn’t capture a photo of it. There were also plenty of other beautiful birds. On a couple of walks we spotted a shell crab crossing the footpath.
