At the beginning of the Fifteenth Century the coast was inhabited by Sumu and Pech Indians who are believed to have originally came from The Colombian rainforests.

The Spanish made some half-hearted attempts to colonise the coast, but the unfriendly swamps and jungles put them off and they went in seach of gold and easier riches. So the Mosquito Coast was left hardly touched, whilst the Spanish concentrated on the Honduran interior.

The Pech and Sumu people were left to their own devices, until the British in the Seventeenth Century started to make a foothold in the region.

'Shoremen' settlements spring up at Black River(Palacios) and Brewers Lagoon (Brus Laguna)and the settlers went about logging, trading and picking fights with the Spanish.

The British designs on the coast were supposedly to protest these so-called 'shoremen', but the main reason was keeping a transit route open between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The British interests in what is now Honduras, were ceded to the Spanish in the late Eighteenth Century, but with independence in the 1820s, the British again promoted settlement in the area. It is from this British influence that the garifuna communities came from, with a mixed African and Amerindian culture.

The Mestizos (mixed European and Amerindian) had nominal influence along the coast until the second half of the Twentieth Century. Now, in the early Twenty First Century, the Pech, Sumu and Garifuna communities are demanding more respect for their different cultures and beliefs from the Honduran government.

One of the gateways to the region is the small fishing community of Palacios, which is only a 40 minute flight from La Ceiba on the Caribbean coast. It is a lot easier to visit the Honduran part of the Mosquito coast than the region further south in Nicaragua.

That is the east part over however, as Palacios has no roads going in to it and only rivers leading out. The region is truly one of the last wilderness areas left in this increasingly shrinking World. In fact, when Christopher Columbus sailed along the coastline here, he made a small landing but decided against further exploration due to the dense forest and hard terrain and so left for easier conquests.

Palacios, sits on what was once the British settlement of Black River, and is the obvious choice to use as a base for your Mosquito Coast. The accommodation on offer in the Town is not exactly 5*, but you don't come to the region expecting this.

Scattered around the Town, is the Garifuna villages of Batalla and Plaplaya, both interesting side trips. Plaplaya has the Leatherback Turtle Project which is manned by a Peace Corps worker and volunteers are very welcome.

This Biosphere Reserve is the most important reserve in Honduras and it shelters around 80% of the Country's animal species within its boundaries.

Rio Platano is a World Heritage Site and is famed for its tropical rainforest, unfortuantely even its fame has not stopped mass destruction of its forest coverage, with some 60% of dense forest being destroyed by settlers on the outskirts of the reserve.

Visiting the reserve, requires a trip up the Rio Platano to the Pech and Miskito village of Las Marias. There is basic accommodation here, though I recommend taking your own mozzie net.

In the village there are plenty of guides touting for your business, and they can take you in to the surrounding rivers and jungle for a around $20 a day. This will include trips in dugouts to more secluded regions, where you could expect to see Howler Monkeys, Spider Monkeys, Tapirs, Anteaters and many species of birds. The Macaws, Toucans and brightly coloured Parrots are a highlight.

Visiting the Mosquito Coast can be a great adventure, as long as you do not expect an easy ride. The land is harsh and the weather even more so, but this is the rreason why it has stayed so beautiful without that much interuption.

The culture of the Pech, Sumu, Garifuna and Miskito communities are as much a highlight as visiting the wilderness regions. It is best not to expect to do too much during your visit and it may be an idea to spend a week on the Bay Islands or somewhere else to recover from your exertions.

If you enjoyed this lense don't forget to visit our other lenses. We add new content every day. Just clcik on our username to see what lenses are currently uploaded.