Belize (formerly British Honduras) is a small Central American country bounded by Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west and south, and the Caribbean Sea to the east.  It seems to have one foot planted in the jungle and the other dipped in the sea.

Belize was the center of the vast Mayan civilization, and dozens of pyramids and ruins – most not yet excavated – are found throughout the country.   With less than 300,000 inhabitants, the countryside feels somehow undiscovered.

On the other hand, bird-watchers know this territory well.  Belize is one of the top birding destinations in the world, and we travelled here with the JB Journeys/Travis (Texas) Audubon Society and our friends Jo Wilson and Carol Bennett.

We were in Belize for 10 days:  a few days on Ambergris Caye on the east coast, a few days in Orange Walk District in the northwest, and a few days in Cayo District in the central part of the country near the border with Guatemala.  The following pages describe what we did and what we saw. 

A word about the birds.   We saw lots of them – a total of 227 different species, most of which were new to us.  Without Laurie, our escort from JB Journeys/Travis Audubon Society, and our guides – Reuben and Raul at Lamanai, and Rick and Walter at Mountain Pine Ridge, we wouldn’t have seen a third of those – and we sure wouldn’t have been able to identify them.  Seeing them is one thing and photographing them is another altogether, and we didn’t come home with too many bird pictures.  Thanks again to Laurie, the group pooled photos and we’re grateful that we can share some of their pictures and ours in this blog. 

Have a look:

Ambergris Caye: http://belizedecember2011.blogspot.com/2012/01/ambergris-caye.html

Lamanai: http://belizedecember2011.blogspot.com/2012/01/lamanai.html

Mennonites, Belize Zoo, and Cheers: http://belizedecember2011.blogspot.com/2012/01/mennonites-belize-zoo-and-cheers.html

Mountain Pine Ridge: http://belizedecember2011.blogspot.com/2012/01/mountain-pine-ridge.html

Ambergris Caye

Ambergris Caye is the largest of the 200+ islands located off the coast of Belize.  It is only half a mile from the Belize Barrier Reef, which is nearly 200 miles long – one of the three largest coral reef systems in the world. 

Getting there was an adventure itself – flying just above the water in a toy airplane, with stops at other small islands along the way.  Our lodging was the Sun Breeze Hotel, in the heart of the little town of San Pedro – and right across the street from the airport. 

 

San Pedro was an interesting place to wander around – it’s about a mile long and only a few blocks wide.  Many of the streets are made of sand – great for going barefoot, but not so good for cars.  The local vehicles of choice seems to be golf carts.

Hotels, restaurants and dive shops line the waterfront, but there’s a skinny little beach for walking and people watching. 

And bird-watching, mustn’t forget the birds.  Without even trying, we did see birds as we wandered the beach and swam in the sea.  Here’s a friendly brown pelican that stayed around the hotel pier. 

We spent a delightful morning at Hol Chan Marine Reserve – a ten minute boat ride from town.  This is a protected area of about 3 square miles of reef, including a channel (about 25 yards wide and 30 feet deep) cut through the reef.  We went with an outfit called ‘Sea-rious Adventures.’   Since there were eight in our group, we were able to charter the boat and have our own personal guide to swim with us – to tell us where to look and explain what we were seeing.  Sweet.

What we saw was unbelievable – beautiful coral formations and zillions of fish.  Some that we remember include:  angelfish, butterfly fish, surgeonfish, horse-eye jack, chub,  grunt, margate, snapper, schoolmaster, beaugregory, sergeant major, grouper, basslet, parrotfish, hogfish, wrasse, goby, trumpetfish, tilefish, , green moray, goatfish, nurse shark, southern stingray, spotted eagle ray, and a green sea turtle.  And that’s probably not even half of the list – hard to take notes underwater.

Turned out to be hard to take pictures underwater, too.  It was a slightly cloudy day – great for the skin, but not so good for photography.   Here’s a shot of our guide showing us a live conch as a horse-eye jack swims by.

The good news about clouds is they help make a nice sunset, followed by a downpour.  We almost managed to get caught in the storm.

Lamanai

Next stop, the 28 mile-long spring-fed New River Lagoon, deep in the jungle amid the ruins of a major Maya city.  We flew from San Pedro to Belize City and then boarded a small bus for the first leg of this journey – about an hour (40 miles) northwest.  Near the Mennonite village of Shipyard, we boarded a boat for the 25-mile cruise on the New River.

 


Lots of birds and wildlife along the way.  Here are a Morelet’s crocodile and a bare-throated tiger heron.

Lamanai Outpost Lodge

After a 1½-hour boat ride, we arrived at our home for the next few nights: Lamanai Outpost Lodge.  The lodge is perched on the western bank of the lagoon and is surrounded by a variety of habitats to be explored.  

There are 20 thatched-roof bungalows.  Ours was spacious with lots of windows and a veranda overlooking the river/lagoon.

It didn’t take long to meet some of the local residents – the black howler monkeys.  On our first night at Lamanai, a whole gang of them camped out in a tree over our cabin – just so they could wake us up at 4:30 in the morning.  Not so charming, but a very effective wake-up call.

We also saw lots of birds around the lodge.  Here are two that were spotted right behind our cottage:  the most common, the social flycatcher, and the rarest, the white hawk.

 

Lamanai Maya Ruins

Lamanai, which means “submerged crocodile,” is a Mayan archeological site located within shouting distance of our lodge.  It was once a city of some 35,000 inhabitants; today the ruins are known for their impressive architecture and beautiful setting – surrounded by dense jungle overlooking the New River Lagoon.  We visited early one morning, in part for bird-watching and in part to avoid the tour groups that arrive in late morning.  Just a few steps from the boat, we got our first look at Belize’s national flower, the black orchid.

Lamanai spans all phases of ancient Mayan civilization and tells a tale of ongoing Maya occupation that adds up to the longest unbroken occupation in the Maya world.  Lamanai was inhabited by 1500 BC, although its major buildings were mostly constructed between 200 BC and 700 AD.  Additions and changes went on up until at least the 15^th century, when as many as 60,000 people lived here.  The Maya continued to live here until the 18^th century (when they were decimated by an epidemic, probably smallpox).

Archeological excavations started here about 1917, but large-scale digging only began in 1974.  There are over 700 structures here in a 2 square mile area – enough work for several lifetimes.  There are unexplored mounds all over the place; we explored six of the largest and mostly excavated structures.

Jaguar Temple:  The Temple of the Jaguar Masks, with its 100-yard-wide plaza, was built in the 6^th century AD and modified several times over the next millennium.  It is a stepped-pyramid structure, with an exposed height of nearly 90 feet.  A significant portion of the temple remains under grassy earth or covered in dense jungle growth.  If fully excavated, it would be significantly taller.

The temple takes its name from two cleverly-designed jaguar faces built into the stone on the lowest level of the pyramid.

The Jaguar Temple was our first stop and we still had energy to burn.  Most of the group climbed to the top for a look around – steep steps and lots of jungle. There were birds around, too - just not many posing for pictures.

Royal Complex:  Across the plaza from the Jaguar Temple is a set of buildings that were used as residences for Lamanai’s royal elite.  Excavation of these structures, known as the Royal Complex, revealed remnants of extensive decoration using painted, modeled stucco.

There were several rooms opening into a large courtyard or gathering place.  Nice view of the temple, too.

Stela Temple:  This intricately-carved stone (stela), standing in front of a small temple, was erected around 625 AD.  It depicts Lord Smoking Shell holding a double-headed ceremonial bar diagonally across his chest, celebrating the anniversary of his reign and the conclusion of the year. Lord Smoking Shell’s head emerges from an open-mouthed serpent headdress that was decorated with small plaques of jade or shell.

 

The burials of five children ranging in age from newborn to eight years old have been discovered beneath the stela, indicating that this was a significant site since human offerings were not usually associated with the dedication of monuments.

Ball Court:  The ball game played here by the Maya is largely a mystery today; the rules are unknown, but it’s thought to be similar to racquetball, where the aim is to keep the ball in play.  Players could not use their hands, but struck the ball with their elbows or knees.  The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much as 9 pounds. 

The games were important and complex ritual events.  Winners were showered with praise and riches.  Losers were sacrificed in keeping with the Maya belief that the only way to keep the sun shining, crops growing and people healthy was to sacrifice a valuable human being.  Hmm … gives real meaning to the notion of “winner takes all.”

The ball court at Lamanai is one of the smallest in the Maya world.  It may have been a symbolic court, used only by royalty for pleasure.  During excavation, a ceremonial vessel containing liquid mercury was found beneath the center marker.

High Temple:  Near the ball court, across a plaza shaded by trees, the High Temple is the tallest structure at Lamanai. It rises 125 feet above the jungle canopy.  Constructed around 100 BC, this grand ceremonial temple was dedicated to the rain god – of vital importance for the growing of the three sister crops of the Maya: corn, squash and beans.

We climbed to the summit of the temple for a great view over the rest of Lamanai, the New River Lagoon, and the plains and forest stretching out on all sides. 

The steps are painfully steep, but the climb up wasn’t too bad.  The descent was a bit more hair-raising - we were grateful for the rope that made it all a little bit easier.  (3 pix; climbers, high descent and long way down)

A special note for our geocaching friends – thanks to one of our travelling companion’s handheld GPS, we found the cache hidden at the top – how about that!  






Mask Temple:  Along the jungle path near the lagoon stands the Mask Temple, erected around 200 BC and modified several times up to 1300 AD.  It was dedicated to the sun god and features huge stylized masks made of limestone blocks.  The masks are nearly 15 feet tall - they are supposed to represent a man in a crocodile headdress.  Deep within this building, archeologists found two tombs, a man and a woman, thought to be a succession of leaders - perhaps a husband and wife or a brother and sister.

 

Too tired for any more climbing, we posed here for a group picture before heading back to the boat.

Along the path, our sharp-eyed guide spotted a mottled owl sleeping in a tree overhead.   He didn’t stay asleep for long – lots of oohs and ahs and camera clicking.

Sunrise Canoe Expedition

Up before the sun, we struck out across the lagoon to explore Dawson’s Creek and its tributaries.  The creek was named by the British, but it was originally dug by the Maya as a canal for irrigation. 

Just getting across the lagoon (before breakfast, coffee or tea) was almost too much for some of our crew – the wind was blowing hard in the wrong direction!

We were glad to reach the calm waters of the creek and enjoyed a leisurely paddle and some good looks at a variety of birds and one big iguana. 

Here are a couple of the birds we saw: limpkin and boat-billed heron.

 

Birding on the Savanna

On another early morning, we headed up Dawson’s creek again – this time by motorboat so we could explore the savanna.  The Belizean savanna is a type of ecosystem dominated by bunch grasses and sedges. It also includes shrubs, pine trees and palms, but they never form a continuous canopy. This area is water-logged during the wet season, completely dried out during the dry season, and subject to seasonal fires caused by lightning. 

It doesn’t sound very hospitable, but the savanna supports lots of birds.  We walked a loop ‘trail’ over coarse soil and gravel, through clumps of wiry grass and knee-high sedges and saw lots of birds, but nothing can top the vermilion flycatcher.

 

Night Walk

What an experience – walking through the jungle by the light of the full moon (and a few flashlights, just in case).  We heard owls and bats as they came out to hunt, not to mention the howler monkeys chatting with each other across the canopy.

We walked paths and roads that we’d done in daylight, but things are different at night - lots of critters are out there in the dark.  We saw a blunt-headed tree snake, a leopard frog, an apple snail (big), green iguanas, wolf spiders, crab spiders, arboreal tarantula, Mexican red-rumped tarantula, and a gray four-eyed opossum.  We even saw birds sleeping – a first for most of us.

Spotlight Safari

After dinner one night, we boarded a river safari boat and headed out into the dark.  Our guide had already impressed us with his ability to spot birds and such, but he really outdid himself on this outing … driving down winding creeks and seeing things in the dark from a moving boat. 

We saw another gray four-eyed possum, some iguanas and more crocodiles.  We saw the provision tree, which blooms only at night – the flowers last only until sunrise.

And birds, of course we saw birds: Yucatan nightjar, limpkin, green heron, ringed kingfisher, green kingfisher, and an amazing six Northern Potoo (pictured).    

Colonial Sugar Mill and Spanish Church

Within the protected area of the Lamanai ruins are the remains of the thick stone walls of two Spanish churches – built from the remains of a temple by Maya forced labor.  One church was built in 1544 and the other in the 1560s.  Both were destroyed by the Maya.  Unknown to the Spanish, the Maya placed sacred objects such as crocodile figurines inside the churches while building them.

Down a jungly path near the churches are the partly overgrown remains of a 19^th-century sugar mill. It was built to service about 200 acres of land that was planted with sugar cane.  It was a steam-operated mill whose usefulness was short-lived.

 

Birds like it here.  Some that we saw included a rufous-tailed jacamar (a hummingbird on steroids), a crane hawk, and our first look at a keel-billed toucan (the national bird of Belize).

 


Sunset Cruise

After so much hard work for the past several days, we found a fine way to end the day – floating on a pontoon boat on the lagoon surrounded by tropical forest, with a well-stocked cooler, plenty of snacks, and our own personal bartender. 

Here’s a great egret heading home for the night.

As the sun was setting, we watched the sky for a while near the nests of the giant Jabiru stork.  Too bad - they didn’t come home for the evening before the sun disappeared below the treetops and we headed back to our lodge for the night.

Other Walks around the Neighborhood

Indian Church Village:  This community of about 250 people lies adjacent to the Lamanai Archeological Reserve.  The majority of its residents are originally from Guatemala and most depend on small farms for survival.

 

Walking along the road to the village, there wasn't much traffic, so we could just stop and look whenever anybody saw something interesting.  We were fortunate to have a spotting scope accompanying us on these hikes - sure does make it easier to see small and far away critters.  

 

This is where we got our first glimpse of the king vulture.  It’s a huge bird, wingspan about six feet.  It’s unmistakable in flight – white underneath with black flight feathers.  Pretty impressive.

The tropical kingbird and great kiskadee were pretty, too – just not quite like that big vulture.

Here’s another pretty one:  male summer tanager.

Lamanai Airstrip: Of course, there’s an airstrip – mostly for the scientists who come to dig in the ruins or to study the wildlife.  It’s got a nice little pond and makes a good place for a walk.  Here we got a good look at a roadside hawk.

 

One the way back to the lodge, we were greeted by our friends, the black howler monkeys.  Fortunately, they picked faraway trees to spend this night.

Butterfly House:  Less than half a mile from the lodge is a butterfly house designed to raise awareness of the natural world among local people.  A noble cause, for sure, but the best part is that they raise only blue morpho butterflies.  Fran would have cheerfully spent several days in there admiring these spectacular creatures.