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"Monarchs of the Mountain"
(A visit to the Monarch butterfly sanctuary in the mountains from Morelia, Mexico)

Does the idea of climbing to 3500 metres altitude to visit a butterfly sanctuary seem bizarre? To me it did. My previous butterfly experience was limited to the back garden when declaring war on the Cabbage White. Also I can recall the infrequent visit of a Red Admiral and the stately Monarch. The realm of butterflies is surely at sea level, more-or-less, and confined to the odd flutter around the flower and vegetable garden or hedgerows in the countryside.

To travel is to learn, so they say, and knowledge of butterflies is no exception! Last summer I rested up awhile at Morelia, the capital of Michoacan State in central Mexico. This is a beautiful region of lakes and volcanoes sprinkled with fascinating colonial-style villages and adjacent farms. The northern part of the state is mountainous and the pine-forested cordillera reaches to 3500 metres altitude .. not rocky and snow clad for here we are at latitude 20 degrees north of the equator.

What to do? In Morelia there is no shortage of wonderful museums, art galleries and cathedrals to keep you busy for days. Impressive certainly, but I longed to do something different and see something unique! I examined the Tourist Office list of tours. Number one was a day tour to Los Santuarios de la Mariposa Monarca y Angangueo costing 480 pesos (ca.US$45) including transport, guide and lunch, available from November to March. Fascinating!... this I must see.

Next morning I was picked up by car at my hotel by Mavino, an English speaking guide, with two American tourists, and we headed off for an adventure! This central part of the state is a broad altiplano at about 2000 metres altitude, composed of tussocky plains with many shallow lakes, but here and there the relief is broken by a cindery volcanic cone. After a couple of hours of fast driving on the super carretera we entered the mountains and climbed along winding roads to the old mining town of Angangueo, at an altitude 3000 metres, which until 1950 was a centre of gold, silver and lead mining. Now it is the starting off point to visit the butterfly sanctuaries.

The monarch butterflies migrate from North America travelling over 4000 kms south to find a haven in the mountains of Mexico. They arrive at the sanctuaries by the millions at the end of October and leave in the middle of April. Up until 1975 it was thought that the monarch butterfly spent the northern

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