Bosawas

Made a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1997, Bosawás protects part of what is reckoned the second largest stretch of continuous rainforest in the western hemisphere after Amazonia, running across northern Nicaragua towards the Honduran border. Its name is an acronym built from the River Bocay, Mount Saslaya and the River Waspuk, three features that roughly mark out its territory. It is home to the Mayangna and Miskito peoples, whose communal lands manage much of the reserve under an autonomy legally recognised by the Nicaraguan state, though in recent decades it has come under growing pressure from farming and ranching settlers pushing steadily in on its boundaries.