Family Belize Wildlife Adventure

Arrive in Belize City, the capital of Belize until 1970 at which time it moved to Belmopan. Its a typical Caribbean town, parts of the town are still largely built of wood and galvanised iron, with many of the original colonial style houses in an elegant state of disrepair. For those arranging their own flights our Leader plans to meet you in the hotel reception at 6 pm for the welcome meeting after which we head for dinner at the hotel. There are no other activities planned today, so you are free to arrive in Belize City at any time. If you would like to receive a complimentary airport transfer today, you'll need to arrive into Belize's Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport (airport code BZE), which is 16km, around 20 minutes' drive from the airport. Should you miss the welcome meeting, your Leader will inform you of any essential information as soon as you catch up. If you have booked your flights through our office then you will spend the first night of the trip in Houston at an airport hotel. Our hotels have a frequent complimentary shuttle service from the airport that you will need to catch (further details about this will be given to you in the joining instructions section of your trip notes), and you'll have the evening free to explore. You will then fly on to Belize City tomorrow morning to meet the rest of our group and our local leader.

Free morning in Belize City. Heading along the northern highway, we pick up those joining from London at the international airport, before continuing to the Community Baboon Sanctuary. Here we have a chance of up close encounters with the world's second loudest land mammal - the Yucatecan black howler monkeys in their natural habitat and learn about the close relationship these animals have with local people who benefit from their protection - confusingly the local people call the monkeys 'baboons'. Later in the afternoon travel inland to the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, an important wetland habitat. Settle down for two nights enjoying the hospitality of our local hosts on the shores of the Crooked Tree Lagoon. Established in 1984, this maze of waterways and lagoons supports a wonderful variety of wetland species. For our first close up encounter with Belize's famed wildlife it's possible to use the hotels kayaks for an afternoon paddle in the lagoon. If the weather is fine we may take a sunset cruise on the lagoon in search of Green Iguanas and numerous wetland species including several species of kingfisher, heron, waders and raptors.

If we failed to do the sunset cruise yesterday we can rise early this morning to explore the lagoon by boat. In this birdwatchers paradise we may spot wood stork, boat-billed heron, vultures, kingfishers, grebes, hawks, snail kites, jacanas and, perhaps most notable of all, the rare jabiru - the largest flying bird in the hemisphere with a wingspan of up to 4 metres. Over 250 resident and migratory bird species have been spotted in the park. Returning to the lodge for breakfast, this morning we venture by vehicle to the New River and Tower Hill bridge for the boat ride upstream to the 2000 year old jungle ruins of Lamanai, one of Belize's largest Mayan ceremonial centres. Water birds are abundant in this ancient rainforest and freshwater crocodiles may be spotted lurking along the river bank. Lamanai, the original name of these Maya ruins, means 'Submerged Crocodile', which helps to explain the numerous carved crocodile representations at the site. The ruins are only partially cleared; most of the structures are still consumed by the surrounding rainforest with its thick canopy of huge trees, in total 718 known structures have been uncovered. The humid atmosphere adds an aura of mystery to the scattered and overgrown relics and there is some evidence that the Maya practised human sacrifice here. We return to our lodge mid-afternoon. For keen bird watchers you won't have to venture far from the lodge, the lake hosts an abundant population of neotropical birds, just fifty feet from the lodge.