In October of 2002, my father and I made an impromptu trip to Belize for an intended 9 days...the trip ended up to be 6 1/2 days, but more on that later. We basically booked our flights a week before departure, booked a 4WD, and drove around the country, based on information from our Rough Guide book. October is very low season, so finding accomodations and guides was easy. Belize is great in that the main roads are very good, and the off roads aren't that bad. You can get from anywhere in Belize to the airport within 4 hours, no matter how remote.

We had intended to focus mainly on the national parks looking for wildlife and birds, while also seeing some of the Mayan ruins, and hopefully getting in one day of snorkling...as Belize is supposed to have some of the premier snorkling and diving in the world.

Following is a day by day account of what we did do. We managed to see probably 100 bird species and some other wildlife in a very short period of time. If you're interested in the species we saw, click here.

Day 1

We arrived at Belize airport, got our Chevy Tracker, and headed for Crooked Tree National Park, which was only a 45 minute drive away. Crooked Tree is a marsh land, sort of a drier version of the Everglades, with a huge array of bird species to be seen. We found the Paradise Inn, and were the only guests. In fact, looking at the log book of the park, we were only the 4th visitors in October, and the first in 4 days. It was too late to do too much, so we just took a short drive around the village of Crooked Tree, had dinner, and went to sleep early.

Day 2

In the early morning, we took a small motor boat tour of the lagoons and creeks. Our guide was fantastic at finding birds and monkeys when we had no hope of seeing them. In a four hour tour that morning, we saw probably 40 different bird species, as well as about 5 different troops of black howler monkeys.

After the boat tour, we had a long drive to our next destination, the Rio Bravo Conservation Area and Chan Chich lodge. On the way, we stopped in a town which only seemed to have Chinese food restaurants...and they weren't bad at all. To get to Chan Chich lodge in the middle of the conservation area, there is about a two hour drive on very bumpy roads...you are lucky to average 20 mph. After having driven for about 4 hours total, we finally reached the lodge around 4:30 PM...seeing many deer, oscillated turkeys, and some collared peccaries along the way. Also, mainly tarantulaas running across the road.

Chan Chich lodge is one of the nicest places that I have ever been. It is a beautiful eco-lodge with 12 luxurious villas set perfectly amongst the rainforest. Unfortunately, when we arrived, there was not a soul there. No one. No staff, no guests, no receptionists, no one. We walked around the lodge area for a while, assuming that someone had to be around, or that someone would come back. The log books indicated that there were guests there two days ago. After about 1 hour of waiting, we had to make a decision. We were about a 3 hour difficult ride through the night away from any other lodging. We drove a short ways back to a small farming village, and found someone at his home. He indicated that since the lodge had no guests booked, they had all gone into a nearby town for a party - all of them. So, we went back to the lodge, waited for about another hour, and finally people returned...VERY surprised to see us. Evidently, at the lodge, they only get about 2 walk-in visitors per year. All others book ahead.

Again, we were the only guests, and we had the entire lodge to ourselves. However, once everyone came back, it operated as if it were full. We had dinner, relaxed for a bit, and went to sleep.

Day 3

At 6 AM we started out for a guided walk. This park and area is one of the best in the world to see jaguars, probably one of the hardest major animals to see in the wild. They have about 70 sightings a year, and had sighted one just a few days previous. We unfortunately were not so lucky. After breakfast, we headed out for a drive to see the rainforest, and also to go canoeing on a lake. Again, no one anywhere - the whole lake to ourselves. We saw many more beautiful birds, including toucans. There is a great screened in pool at the hotel, so we lounged there for a while, until the black howler monkeys came into the trees above the lodge. We watched them closely for a long while, and then headed out on a self-guided walk, where were able to see the other type of monkey in Belize, the spider monkey. That evening, I went on a night walk. Night walks are spooky, especially when you turn your flashlight off. Again, I was unlucky, in that we did not see the major things you might hope to see when taking a night walk (kinkajoos, anteaters, ocelots). We spent another night at Chan Chich.

   

Day 4

Again, we were up for a 6 AM walk, this time to look for birds. Our guide Gilberto was fantastic, as he had been doing this for 17 years. He knew every single bird call, and every single bird in the area. We saw more collared peccaries, which are essentially giant pigs, sort of like warthogs, but dangerous if in big packs.

We left Chan Chich for the long drive back around, with not too much idea of how far we would get. On the way, we were fortunate enough to see a Jabiru Stork, very rare, and the largest bird in Central America in a rice field. We also spotted roseatte spoonbills and wood storks, and almost took our car into a ditch swerving around a turtle in the road.

We were able to make it as far as Bermudian Landing, an interesting village, where each farmer has signed an oath to donate some land and help protect the black howler monkey - so it is basically a refuge for the howler - there are over 1500 of these monkeys in this area. We had a guided walk to see some of them, and were able to get pretty close. Black Howler monkeys are the loudest animal in the world...their roar can be heard miles away. Our guide was able to goad them into some roars, which was quite entertaining.

We stayed in a very sketchy hotel, with no running water, and no food. We were able to get Chinese food a short drive away from town. There are LOTS of Chinese restaurants in Belize. We went on another night walk, but saw nothing.

Day 5

We headed out early in the morning, having lunch in the capital city Belmopan on the way. Belmopan has a resident population of 10,000 people. We were heading in the Cayo region of Belize, a more hilly area. The intention was to see rainforests, pine forests, and Mayan ruins. We found a great lodge, Maya Mountain Lodge, and were again the only guests. We then headed out for a drive in the Mountain Pine Ridge National Park.

Normally, the Mountain Pine Ridge is filled with pine trees as you go higher in elevation above the rainforest. Its also normally filled with bird life. However, a beetle of some sort completely wiped out the pine forest about two years ago. There are almost no live trees there anymore. They say it will take 20 years to re-grow.

We found a great place called the Rio On pools, which are essentially a myriad of small waterfalls going for a long way over boulders, creating small pools all along the way. Its a great place to hike around in the river, and sit under various waterfalls, and swim in the pools. We hung out here for a while, until my father slipped, almost fell into one of the waterfalls, and lost his prescription sunglasses..luckily he had a backup, though not sunglasses. We then drove to the Hidden Valley Falls, waterfalls that fell about 1000 feet. They were beautiful, but you couldn't really walk to them, and the bugs up there were horrible, so we didn't stay too long.

We drove back to the hotel, washed up some, and headed into San Ignacio for dinner at Marthas, which we would frequent two more times. Some of the best pizza I've ever had.

Day 6

This morning we headed about 15 minutes away from the hotel, to a stable, where we were going to spend the morning horseback riding. Our guide, a Swede named Charlie, was very comical, but also very good at teaching us the proper way to ride. We spent the next 3 1/2 hours riding through the villages, farms, rainforests, and even saw some Mayan ruins along the way. Only problem is that it was really hot, and there is not much relief when you are on top of a horse.

In the afternoon, we were driven to a very remote spot with a canoe. Our drivers backed the van up to the river, took down the canoe, and bid us farewell for our 2 1/2 hour slow journey down the Macal River through the rainforest. Basically, you float down the lazy river, looking for birds and iguanas, end up in San Ignacio, and they come and pick up the canoe from there. The setting is incredible, with rainforest and hills on both sides of you, and absolutely no one else around. The river is narrow, so its easy to see everything on the shores. It was really really a magnificent setting....however....

After about 20 minutes of floating and seeing numerous birds and gigantic iguanas, we came to a small rapid. We're talking a small rapid, not even Class I. We basically headed to the middle of it, and intended to let it carry us through. Unfortunately, it veered us left towards the shore, where there were many branches sticking out from low trees. We went right at one of those branches, and it basically clotheslined us, and we toppled the canoe. Luckily, the water was shallow, we were near the shore, and the crocodiles all lived further up stream. I could see that my father was going to easily make it to shore, and that he had the canoe which was filled with water. I saw my backpack and fanny pack (both of which held all my camera equipment and my passport and money) floating away, so I swam after them. I caught up to them quickly, but was now in the middle of the rapid, and hanging on to a tree branch that was sticking out, trying to hold the backpacks above the water. It took me about 10 minutes to wriggle my way onto the tree and onto a small piece of shore. My SLR, point and shoot, and 300mm lens were all ruined with water. My passport was soaking wet, but ok. I managed to climb over some trees to where my father was about 30 yards away. We managed to get the canoe emptied of water, and got ready to go again, after about 1/2 hour. My father's SLR camera had sunk in the river...but more unfortunately, he had lost his second and last pair of glasses, rendering him essentially blind to anything beyond 15 feet. And we still had about 2 hours of canoeing to go. We picked up our lifejackets and seat cushions which had floated down river, and began the long, depressing journey back. All our camera equipment was ruined, and my dad couldn't see. There was no reason to continue for the next two days of the trip. We made the decision to change our tickets, and take the flight back the next day.

Our next two days were to be spent at Carocal, a beautiful Mayan ruin in the middle of the rainforest, and at Cockscomb Jaguar Refuge, and other rainforest park with a totally different feel to it. We would forgo these, as it didn't make sense to go. My dad could not see, and our mood was ruined and depressed. We were lucky that neither of us were hurt at all. We toweled off our money and passports that night, made the arrangements for our flights, had dinner, and went to sleep.

Day 7

On the drive back, we had plenty of time before our flight, so we took some scenic drives along the way, and stopped at the Belize Zoo, which is probably the nicest zoo you'll come across. It only houses species of Belize, and it houses them all in large areas which are exactly like their environment would be in the wild. In fact, it is often hard to see some of the species, as they could hide themselves well. After the zoo, we headed to the airport, returned the car, and took the flight home.

All in all, Belize is an incredible place, and I would like to go back. There were the things we didn't see which we had intended to, and there was the whole coast which we didn't have time for. Given how everyone raves about the scuba and the snorkling there, it would seem necessary to go back.

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