Feel the Power of Nature.
Feel Interconnected. Feel Alive.
Tierra Chamahua EcoAdventures Philosophy
Tierra Chamahua EcoAdventures begins a new evolution in guest ranches through Rancho Los Baños. This adaptation and evolution caters to individuals seeking adventure in conjunction with, and in interconnectedness and respect for Nature. Whether through rest and relaxation, trekking, hiking, thermal springs, canoeing/kayaking, lake tours, birding, jeep tours, mountain biking, horseback riding, wildlife observation, camping, and such nighttime activities as stargazing and wildlife safaris via night vision, Tierra Chamahua EcoAdventures endeavors to always respect the wonder and majesty of Nature.
What we offer is Nature at its very finest, on the border of two of the great deserts of the world (Sonora/Chihuahua), a land of immense beauty and scenery, with an opportunity to see many protected habitats, mammals, birds, flora and vistas. With a wild ruggedness that makes this part of the world one of the last frontiers left in the Americas, this land, private, isolated and serene, untouched and unspoiled, with no sign of humanity for miles, will take your breath away. For a few days, we hope Rancho Los Baños becomes your playground and your adventure, whether you come to rest or play.
Tierra Chamahua EcoAdventures strives to maintain a harmonious balance between guests and Nature, with an emphasis on returning our guests to a natural world long since forgotten, a world of immense beauty and peace. With humanity encroaching on pristine, unspoiled land more and more each passing year, the opportunities to experience the natural world as it used to be are dwindling. Through Rancho Los Baños we hope to showcase the beauty of this world we see less and less each year, in the process focusing conservation efforts to protect this vitally important region.
With so many of us leading hectic, sedentary and indoor lives, few opportunities arise to become part of Nature, to observe its wonders, to feel, hear and see its beauty. Few of us contemplate spending a quiet day on a lake, or canoeing down a canyon-walled river filled with spectacular vistas. Few of us stop to admire and enjoy the diverse beauty of evolution and natural selection, of differing habitats and ecosystems, of a perfect balance in the natural world, of a night sky filled with a galaxy full of stars, of scenery that takes our breath away. Few of us ever stop to admire the world we all now live in, and the world that will exist long after we are gone. This reality, then, is our goal, for Nature is an incredible adventure that reenergizes, reinvigorates and feeds both body and mind.
Rancho Los Baños
Rancho Los Baños, situated 60 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border in northeastern Sonora state, is located at the foot of the Sierra Madre, with a range in elevation from 7,400 feet above sea level in the northern border, at the top of El Pinito mountain, to 3,200 feet in the southern canyon country, which includes breathtaking El Cajon Canyon. Its 30,000 acres, which includes 5,000 acres from El Cumaral, our neighbor to the east, makes it one of the larger ranches in all of Northern Mexico. The terrain and topography of the ranch is rugged and wild, full of canyons, cliffs, vertical sierras and rocky river beds. Often called “some of the wildest country you will ever see,” Rancho Los Baños got its name from the thermal hot springs that exist inside the ranch. Meaning “The Baths,” Los Baños has roughly 35 natural springs within its borders, making this Sonoran/Chihuahuan Desert landscape home to numerous flora and fauna, some of which can only be found here.
The Valenzuela family, cattle ranching pioneers from the northeast of Sonora dating back to the early 20th century, has owned and operated the ranch continuously since the early 1950’s, as always protecting its wildlife and preserving its natural beauty. American raised and educated, bilingual and bicultural, the Valenzuelas’ have successfully managed the ranch through thick and thin, drought and abundance, helping make the ranch one of the most successful ranching enterprises in Sonora. The family's deep seated belief in living with nature and not at its expense has helped preserve this enchanting land much the same way as it has been for millennia. Guest ranches accommodation in Mexico.
Within the borders of the ranch are myriad numbers of diverse habitats corresponding to elevation, topography and temperatures. Along with this, the ranch is home to an incredible array of both flora and fauna, large and small, predator and prey. Sections of the ranch are mountain lion country, with large numbers of cats thriving in their environs. The ranch also has many bobcats, foxes, coyotes and a small number of black bear in the higher elevations. The occasional jaguar migrates through the ranch as well. The ranch is home to many white-tail coues deer, javelina, Gould’s turkey, chulos or coatimundi and smaller mammals such as skunk and squirrel.
Also, of great importance to any avid bird watcher is the fact that Los Baños is located in the middle of an important migratory birding corridor that provides the ranch with a magnificent assortment of bird life. This birding corridor includes the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona all the way south to the important Los Alamos sanctuary in southern Sonora. Combined with the bird habitats and immense bird watching opportunities of unspoiled Lake Angostura, the spectacular Bavispe River, and an elevation range from 3,200 feet to 7,400 feet inside Rancho Los Baños, including majestic El Cajon, it is easy to see why this region of Northern Mexico is poised to become a true bird watching mecca in the years to come. (For a description of the large bird population present inside the ranch, please see the bird list link in the birding page.)
If 30,000 acres of isolated and pristine desert environment was not enough to satisfy any Nature lover, bordering the ranch’s east is Lake Angostura. Measuring 20 miles in length and 3 miles in width, this lake was created in the early 1930’s, a result of a massive dam project by the Mexican government. It was designed and built with the help of the same architects that designed the Hoover Dam. Added to this, at the edge of the ranch’s southeastern border, lies the Bavispe River, a spectacular boxed-canyon river that slithers its way dozens of miles south through untamed, unspoiled and unmatched scenery. Our guided tours are the only ones of its kind on this river, culminating in pick-ups at the towns of San Juan and Villa Hidalgo, both located downriver. Clearly, this region, with Rancho Los Baños as base camp, is an outdoors enthusiast’s dream come true.
Chamahua, Petroglyphs and the Opata Indians
Tierra Chamahua EcoAdventures derives its name and inspiration from the language and culture of the Native Americans who made Rancho Los Baños their home thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. Our EcoAdventures outfitter, Tierra Chamahua, was named in honor of these Native Americans, those we in Sonora call the Opata. The word Chamahua, meaning “from which all things flow,” is the name of the Opata’s principle belief system, described further below. Combined with the Spanish word for land, Tierra, we feel this name, and philosophy, represents the vision and goal we at Rancho Los Baños endeavor to perfect.
It is our belief that Rancho Los Baños and its 30,000 acres represents part of an interconnected energy, connecting man and nature, and vice versa, that is intertwined with all else on Earth. Like the Opata before us, we believe that humankind and nature are one and the same, and therefore in need of balance and harmony. It is our goal to showcase this region of the world for the beauty, balance and solitude it possesses, making sure that in the process Nature is respected and cherished. It is our goal to help bring guests and Nature closer together, with knowledge, wisdom, respect and honor for the natural world growing every day a guest is at the ranch.
Meaning “from which all things flow” in the ancient Opata Indian language, the word Chamahua
is the name the Opata give to the principle and ultimate formless source of all that exists, and which has no beginning, end, or humanly explainable purpose. All life forms are interconnected with one another within the infinite body of Chamahua. The sparks of Chamahua’s active energy of light are the source of all individual life forms, including the souls [or energy] of man.
Chamahua emanates two energies that result in opposites in many aspects of existence. In the physical
universe, such opposites include light and darkness, heat and cold, motion and stillness, masculine and feminine, love and hate, and good and evil. Chamahua does not possess a human-like ego or cravings, which is why Chamahua does not require or desire people to worship it or even believe in it.
The nature of Chamahua cannot be described any further in words. It could only be experienced directly through silent, individual perception, whose methods were initially taught to the young by the elders and shamans. Only those who wish to open the door to Chamahua can attain it. It comes from within and cannot be conditioned or embedded by outside interference.
It is our love of Nature, and our wish to share it with all who want to come, that makes Rancho Los Baños an active light in the attainment of Chamahua. This secular interpretation of an ancient belief system, combined with wishing to pay our humble respects to the ancients that once inhabited this land, both in language and visual imagery, has led to the creation of Tierra Chamahua EcoAdventures, as well as incorporation of a 2,000 year old petroglyph into our logo.
This glyph, now logo, an image of Opata “wing people,” represents the deep respect we have for an ancient nomadic people whose lives were defined within the boxed canyons of the ranch. Little is known of their history at the ranch, yet it is they who left an indelible imprint on cave walls, showing us, even if it is but a small glimmer, a brief representation of what life and culture surely must have been like for these tribes. It is they who first saw the wonders and beauty of this land, and it is they who first thrived here, living and dying among the canyons and rugged topography that defines the ranch. In their 2,000 year-old masterpieces painted on cave walls their spirit can be felt and understood.
Since their time, much of the ranch has remained as it was 2,000 years ago, unchanged, unspoiled, undisturbed and untamed. Your eyes will see what the ancients saw. You will feel and smell what they felt and smelled. It is safe to say, then, that perhaps the land that time forgot will take you back in time to a world no longer seen, a world of mystery, magic and unsurpassed beauty, a world devoid of modern life. Tierra Chamahua, then, is the land from which all things flow, a bridge to the past, a respect for ancients, a highway to the future and an understanding of interconnectedness and balance in a world that lacks both.
