Rafaeles Eden is located in Iriona, Honduras, in the department of Colón, at approximately 15msnm, 15°42'53.0" North Latitude and 85°22'32.6" of West longitude on the riverbanks of the River Tinto Negro. Our land consists of 564.79 hectares, of which 70% is a tropical humid forest with trees up to 600 years old, many species of flora and fauna (some in danger of extinction). This forest is a vital point for more than 16 water basins that drain into Río Tinto Negro. The water flowing along these banks is pristine and provides water to the communities of El Guano and El Paradiso. Due to deforestation in the rest of the territory, many riverbeds are dry or only hold water during the winter months.
Our integral reforestation plan is rooted in bioregionalism—deep consciousness of local needs and realities, and creative adaptation based on those observations. Regenerative agriculture and other holistically minded systems emphasize the localization of production and consumption patterns as the irreplaceable path to health, well being, and true abundance. We plant native trees because they are best adapted to this area, support the needs of local flora and fauna, and are significant to local cultures. Non-native plants often cause damage to the environment by eliminating local flora and fauna, threating food security and water security, and degrading biodiversity. Ecologies are more resilient when they are diverse and symbiotic.
Our forest supports an array of life typical of tropical humid forests, many of which are rare and of high value to people. Many of these plants provide food, textiles, and medicine—orchids, chicory, guanandi, fig trees, epezote, Tolu balsam, Maya nut, sapote, wild cashew, coconut trees, African palm trees, Florida palm trees, coyol palm, tree fern, rubber tree, castor bean, hawthorn, gum tree, guava, cotton, and papaya; valuable timber trees like cedro, mahogany, yellow ipê, and granadillo rojo; and plants threatened by extinction. The wildlife is just as rich, and also includes threatened species—insects like ants, bees, mosquitos, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, night and daytime beetles; reptiles like common lanceheads, tamagás snakes, rainforest hognosed pitvipers, northern boas, spectacled ciamans, American crocodiles, coral snakes, West Indian fuzzy chitons, brown basilisks, iguanas, and turtles like loggerhead sea turtles; amphibians like the plentiful varieties of toads and frogs; birds like hummingbirds, black-throated trogons, pale-billed woodpeckers, spectacled owls, mottled owls, rainbow-billed toucans, yellow-crowned parrots, crimson-fronted parakeets, king vultures, as well as the endangered highland guan, great curassow, and little tinamou; mammals like tapirs, white-lipped peccaries, jaguars, ocelots, spectral bats, bonneted bats, white-nosed coatis, raccoons, giant anteaters, and spotted pacas; and fishes.
When we reforest, the seeds and young plants are sourced from our nursery and nearby nurseries and we plant them during the most appropriate times based on local factors. We’ve learned the importance of caring for young trees, so they can become established and healthy. An important consideration is the land’s unique soil composition: red clay, which is beneficial to forest growth; and black clay, which is beneficial for agriculture. We are cognizant of potential advantages like topographical patterns, potential challenges like pests and tree diseases, and climate conditions like the amount and distribution of rainfall, winds, and seasonal changes. With these methods, we have regenerated 20 hectares of forest in the last 20 years. About 37,000 trees were planted In the last five years.
Our goal today is to reforest 20% more of El Edén de los Rafaeles over the next ten years, and to design the remaining 10% according to the values, principles, and techniques of regenerative agriculture: agroforestry including tree-intercropping, permaculture, silvopastures; multi-paddock grazing systems, and rewilding . Permaculture is an ecological design system that mimicks the patterns, processes and negentropic features of natural systems.
Conscious humans can live in harmony with nature, one another and themselves when they realize humans are nature, not violently dominant over nature, and what we do to Earth we do to ourselves. Rafaeles Eden is a refuge with open doors for anyone who wants to to share and gain knowledge, to create and protect those natural systems upon which humans depend most completely, and to express their higher selves.
