Río Plátano

Made a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1980, it protects the largest stretch of untouched rainforest surviving in Honduras, in the remote Mosquitia, connecting ecologically with Nicaragua's neighbouring Bosawás reserve to form one of the most extensive corridors of continuous forest in Central America. It can only be reached after several days by light aircraft or river, and its land is home to the Miskito, Pech, Tawahka and Garifuna peoples, whose traditional knowledge is indispensable for finding one's way through country with virtually no infrastructure or signage. It was on the List of World Heritage in Danger between 2011 and 2024 because of illegal logging, encroaching cattle ranching and the drug trafficking that uses its remote river routes.