Baja California, MexicoBaja – Hope For an Alternative FutureWhat too few people realize is that beyond Cabo San Lucas – the playground for holiday makers and movie stars where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez – lies
unspoiled expanses of desert wilderness and
pristine coastlines simply called
Baja, or "lower" California.
For real hope, Baja California and the Sea of Cortez needs to become a
world icon for conservation.
Unlike other places in the world where it may already be too late, there is
still time for Baja California – time to choose an alternative path for growth, development, and
protection of it's wild places and natural resources.
This project was inspired by the many changes I've witnesses during my travels in Baja California over the past
20 years with
Lindblad Expeditions and
National Geographic.It was a fateful phone call with the conservation group
WildCoast that sent me on my two-month odyssey down the peninsula in Feb-Mar of 2008. Images from this adventure became the story "Is Baja on the Block" in
National Geographic Traveler magazine (Nov-Dec 2008) and also the limited-edition book,
Baja California and the Sea of Cortez – Every Picture tells a Story.A companion video produced with the help of the
International League of Conservation Photographers about the ongoing threats to
Cabo Pulmo National park can be viewed at
here.
Work on the ground was generously supported by the
Helmsley Charitable Trust.© Ralph Lee Hopkins
