The reserve protects the humid forests and the dry forests that surround and cover the Mache Chindul mountain range on the Ecuadorian coast. The humid forests belong to the Chocó, a very humid region that extends from Panama to the northwest of Ecuador. Dry forests replace moist forests to the south, from the surroundings of Cojimíes and Jama, in the north of Manabí; cover the Mache mountain range Chindul and the coastal strip of southern Ecuador and reach northern Peru. The reserve protects the Cube lagoon, an area that in 2001 was declared a wetland of international importance, both for the biodiversity found there and for the important ecological functions it fulfills and the environmental services it provides to neighboring towns.
El Universo (Octubre 2010)
The reserve is located in the transition zone of the Tumbesian dry forests (typical of the
southern Ecuador and northern Peru) and the tropical rainforests of the Chocó region (from
Panama to the northwest of the country). Both ecosystems are extremely biodiverse
and have unique species, but while in the northern humid forest they fall between
2,000 and 3,000 mm of rain per year, in the southern dry forest it rains barely 1,000 mm. The
Mache Chindul mountain range is one of the mountainous massifs found to the
west of the Andes mountain range on the coastal plain. In this region mountainous source several important rivers such as Muisne, Chebe, Atacames and Tigua. Some
of these are tributaries of the great Esmeraldas River. Flora studies carried out to date have recorded the existence of a largevariety of orchids and lianas. Among the most representative trees are the gutter, the
anime, the tangaré, the mahogany, the cuángare, and various palms such as the pambil and the tagua.
El comercio (s,f)
Recent inventories have revealed the existence of three new tree species for the
science, one of which belongs to a new genus named Ecuadendron, which means
“Ecuadorian tree”. In the dry forest there are Fernán Sánchez, Guayacán, Tillo, Hobo de Monte,
amarillo, piñón and muyuyo, and in the most arid areas, cacti, palos santos and ceibos.
Among the mammals there are several species of monkeys: capuchin, howler and spider monkey of brown head, the latter considered one of the seriously threatened species of
extinction. Within the group of carnivores, tigrillos, guanfandos or dogs have been reported.
de agua, cabezas de mate, cusumbos and there are even sporadic records of jaguars. In the rivers are the otter and the washing bear or crab-eating raccoon. Among the birds, the hummingbird stands out hermit (very typical of this area), the Chocó toucan, the black-faced woodpecker, the woodpecker brown, the paletón toucan or dios-te-dé (so called because of the sound it makes), the mountain guans crested and the great peacock, also very rare to observe. Within the group of amphibians, precisely because of the diverse microhabitats found throughout the altitudinal range of the reserve, there is a great diversity of species. Among the most representative are the striking monkey frog, the nurse frog and the kiki little devil frog. Among the reptiles are the boa matacaballo, several species of false coral, the white or spectacled caiman, the turtle biting and the always striking iguanas.
Wikipedia (2022)