Sima de las Cotorras

Sima de las Cotorras is a near-perfectly circular sinkhole in the Selva El Ocote reserve, about 160 m across and 140 m deep, formed where a section of underground cave roof collapsed to open a sheer-walled pit in the forest floor. Its signature spectacle is the daily flight of several hundred green parakeets that nest in cavities along the shaft wall, spiralling out in a dense, calling mass at dawn and returning in the same pattern at dusk. Ancient rock paintings of red human figures survive on the sinkhole wall, reachable only by rappel and generally seen only by visitors joining a guided descent rather than from the rim. Most visitors experience the sinkhole from a viewing platform at the rim, arriving in darkness to catch the dawn flight, which runs from roughly 5:30AM to 6:30AM between March and October; outside that window, or later in the morning, the shaft is far quieter and the parakeets are not visible in numbers. Because the flight happens so early, the practical way to see it is to stay overnight at the site's cabanas rather than attempting a same-day arrival from Tuxtla Gutierrez or San Cristobal. A full visit, including time at the rim before and after the flight, takes about two hours; those adding a rappel descent to see the rock paintings should budget a half day and arrange it with the site's guides in advance.