Trip Report. Birding Belize March 11-18, 2002  

 

"We" are my husband Herman, 40 years a birder in Massachusetts, and  myself, Eva, a non-birder who enjoys birding vacations. Neither of us had ever been to Belize before.

 

We liked the country. We ended up with 187 birds. The people are friendly. It was untouristy and uncrowded generally. The "supermarket" where we bought bottled water was a Mom and Pop place.  We were able to totally avoid cities. Quite often when you see a bird  while driving you can just stop and enjoy it because there is no car in sight behind you.  I don’t know how often Herman said "Stop! Back up." And then there’d be something wonderful to see, like a Crested Guan, or a White-tailed Hawk. Or maybe something that turned out to be more ordinary, like a Roadside Hawk, but still fun to checkout.

 

You do not need Belizian money, although you will get some in change . Prices there are given in Belizian dollars of course. You pay half that many US dollars.   Any dollar amounts I mention in this report are in US$.

 

Over the course of the week we drove a loop from the airport to the Cockscomb Jaguar Reserve via Burrell Boom, taking the Hummingbird Highway south and the Coastal Highway north, with dog’s legs to Gale’s Point, Bermudian Landing, and Crooked Tree.  One afternoon between lunch and dinner at Aurora Saqui’s restaurant in Maya Centre we drove a loop  through  Hopkins and Suttee River.

 

We never drove more than 50 miles between lodges. All the roads we drove had birding potential.

All our accommodations had private bath and running water.

 

Our flight left Boston at 6am on a Monday. We changed planes in Miami. We gained an hour, arriving in Belize at 12:45pm. We were on the road by 2pm. It was easy to get to Caves Branch by suppertime, birding along the way, though we did not have enough time at Guanacaste to do that park justice.

 

I had reserved a Suzuki Samurai from Avis. I tried Budget first, but the smallest thing they had was a Mitsubishi Montero. When we crossed the street from the airport to Avis,  Avis told us the previous renter had not returned the Samurai yet. So we went next door to Jabiru--the several car rental agencies are in a row. We rented a Suzuki Jimmy. It was just right for the two of us, and it was adequate to give our guide a ride between Maya Centre and Cockscomb as well, so long as we did not have much luggage in the car.

 

Midweek we had electrical trouble with our rental car--the battery kept dying and it would not recharge with highway driving. Several times local people helped push us until the motor turned over. We sought out two mechanics, Ezra Stevens in Bermudian Landing and Boccario in La Democracia, which gave us a special view into the country. Boccario was sitting in his yard getting his hair corn-curled when we drove up at 1:30pm seeking his help. Boccario spent an hour helping us, although he was going to a funeral at 3pm, his hair was only half done, and he needed to shower. When I asked what hewould do about his bad hair day he said, "I’ll wear a hat." We finally solved our car problem by driving back to the airport and exchanging that vehicle for the same model with a good battery. As a result of this we missed the Monkey Bay Wildlife Reserve.

 

Planning:

 

We started thinking about going to Belize in early January. I planned this trip by reading the 2002 Rough Guide to Belize,  reading whatever birders’ trip reports on Belize I could find on the Web, and then emailing Veronica C. Dacoff at Maya Travel my desired itinerary. Mayatravel@btl.net   She’s the only person I found in Belize who answers her email in a timely fashion. Veronica booked all accommodations, some meals and most guides. She would have arranged the rental car, but I had already made my arrangements (such as they were) with Avis before I found Veronica. She got her commission from the lodges. I paid her by credit card. She e-mailed me vouchers. She was immensely helpful. 

 

I listened to John Moore’s Birds of Chan Chich tape. Even though we did not go to Chan Chich, or even the forest where Chan Chich is located, we heard many of those birds. It was worth listening to that tape.

 

Since I am not a birder, I made the decision to hire a guide wherever possible to give Herman some heavy-hitting birding companionship. Spending those hours with local guides also got us better acquainted with  Belize and its people.  Plus I feel it’s tourist money spent directly on birding, so it sends a message.

 

Zooming in on select moments in Belize:

 

William Sho was late for our first morning walk in Cockscomb (though he gave us the full 4 hours). This is because he had to hitchhike in with workers who were late. So on the second morning  I drove to Maya Center to pick him up. That dirt track was rich in wildlife, so it’s not really time lost. William was waiting for me at a spot where he had a pair of gray hawks and a keel-billed toucan staked out.

 

We encountered several road-building crews. Some had a nifty portable speed-bump in the form of a big thick hemp rope.

 

Weather:

 

Nights cool enough to need a light blanket. No precipitation.  We were not exceptionally hot during the day. Of course we did not power-walk.

 

Health:

 

Just one problem: Herman got chiggers his last evening in Belize walking around in the environs of Crooked Tree.  He did not tuck his trousers into his socks, nor did he use repellant.  

 

Expenses:

 

We paid $512.50 per round trip ticket Boston<->Belize, plus $20 apiece airport exit tax.

 

Including gas and insurance, our small 4 wheel drive hardtop rental car cost about $600 for the week

 

A double room with private flush toilet and shower was under $60/night, except at Caves Branch and Manatee Lodge, which were splurges. Furthermore, all our cabins but one had at least 3 beds. Two had two rooms. I don’t know what the surcharge would have been to put more than two people in a cabin. 

 

We spent about $15/day apiece on restaurant meals (except Caves Branch and Manatee Lodge were a splurge). Most of the lodges, and Aurora’s restaurant too,  served a set menu. We ate everything including fruit juice with ice cubes.

 

I’ve never been to Chan Chich Lodge, but the prices they publish for their guides seem to be in line with what we paid on average: $6/person/hr for daylight walks, $8/person/hr for nightwalks, $10/person/hr for trips involving a vehicle or boat.  The charges are not uniform, though. Caves Branch was the most expensive.   The boat trips we took at Manatee Lodge and Crooked Tree would have been the same price for 4 as they were for 2.

 

Guides:

 

Marcos at Caves Branch--the only guide who had binoculars--He knows his birds and bird song. 

 

Julio Saqui lead us on one night walk at Cockscomb. He was good. He trains guides throughout Belize.

 

Julio’s nephew William Sho is a good birder. We were lucky to have him for two 4-hour morning walks in Cockscomb.  And he was great at finding treefuls of kinkajous at night too.  The guides in Cockscomb are good value, and deserving of a tip.

 

Camille Young, who is the Postmaster and Justice of the Peace in Bermudian Landing, was a well-informed guide. He knew Latin names of birds, had good eyes, and was congenial.  He solicited our business when we arrived at Howler Monkey Lodge after dark. We booked him for 6-8am, even though it was a shot in the dark. Later his brother, Fallett Young, the manager of the Community Baboon Sanctuary, told us Camille should not have solicited our business that way. He, Fallett should distribute the guide work in an orderly fashion through the Visitor’s Center. Plus, he said that Camille, who had charged $20 to take 2 of us out 6-8am, had overcharged us.  I pointed out that the Center’s hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.  Fallett said  "But I live in the house right behind  the Visitor’s Center. You can ring my bell at any time."  Who knew?  The entrance fee to the Community Baboon Sanctuary (I forget what this fee was, but all the entrance fees in Belize were in the $2.50-$4.00 range per person), which you pay once even if you stay for 2 nights as we did, entitles one to half an hour of guidance. I told Fallett we’d ideally like our half hour before breakfast. No problem. He agreed to meet us at 6:15am the next morning. We were early--we were there at 6am. He saw us and came out to begin the walk.   Like his brother, Fallett was a good and articulate guide. I suggested to him that he mark the trail entrance, and color code the maze of trails.

 

Accommodations:

 

Night 1:

Caves Branch Lodge a few miles from the Hummingbird Highway was as luxurious as it gets without electricity in your cabin. Hurricane lanterns. Hot water (one of the few places in Belize we had hot water). Terrific food. Interesting European and American fellow diners at communal tables.  Told that the fast-flowing Caves Branch river was safe to swim in (I specifically asked about crocodiles and parasites) I swam in it before dinner and after breakfast. I didn’t have the nerve  to use the  rope drop into the swimming hole, so I entered by way of the rocky shore.  I was told that the presence of so many kingfishers on the Caves Branch River was a river-health indicator.  We birded the access road to Caves Branch Lodge in the morning with Marcos.  Within yards of the dining room we had nesting aracari, yellow-crowned night-herons roosting, a pale-billed woodpecker loudly tapping at 6am, an orange-billed sparrow, a cinnamon becard, and a red-throated ant-tanager. 

 

Nights 2 & 3:

We stayed in a cabin right in the Cockscomb Jaguar Reserve, with chemical composting toilet, one solar-powered florescent light, and cold (i.e. room temperature, which is fine in the tropics) shower. I charged my camera batteries at Aurora Saqui’s restaurant in Maya Centre where we took lunch and dinner every day. We breakfasted on granola bars  and oranges that had fallen off a truck ahead of us on the dirt road to 5 Blues Lake National Park. The other day we had Aurora make us a take-out breakfast the evening before.  In the morning, from our porch, we had Crested Guans and Plain Chachalacas. The closest we got to any wild cats was several huge jaguar prints in the mud on the forest trails.

 

Night 4:

At Manatee Lodge I swam in the warm shallow salt water of the lagoon (But they need to install a ladder at the end of the dock!) John took us out for 4 hours in a motor launch with a canoe aboard. He got us our life manatees right away. We canoed the Manatee river. The jungle walk I’d read about is no more because the trail was destroyed in the last hurricane. So John took us to a beach habitat instead. John was not a birder per se, but he got us to the habitats, he owned the bird book, and he identified some Orioles, and pointed out Osprey and kingfishers.

 

Nights 5 & 6 at Howler Monkey Lodge.

We never even had a chance to explore the trail on the grounds. Our cabin overlooked the Belize river. It was neat hearing the howlers roar so close.  The first morning we walked the road with Camille for two hours. There’s only one road in town, unpaved. This is the day we didn’t do Monkey Bay. We did get back to Bermudian Landing with a fresh rental car in time to take a canoe trip on the Belize river with Camille 3:30pm until 7pm. A highlight of  that trip was the White Ibises coming in to roost  at dusk.  Marilyn, the manager at Howler Monkey Lodge, had a good home-cooked meal ready for us. 8-9pm we had a singularly unproductive nightwalk with Fallett and two young British women med students doing a training stint in Belize City. The next morning after our 6am walk with Fallett and an early breakfast we went to 8:30 Mass.  Then we explored the roads to Double-head Cabbage and Flower Bank by car before heading for Crooked Tree. That day, among the mammals we saw, were an agouti, a tayra, and howler monkeys.  

 

7^th and last night at Sam Tillet’s in Crooked Tree.

Charming thatched cabin on stilts with all modern conveniences. Mosquito netting on a 4-poster bed. Good cooked  breakfast served whenever you want it. We said 6am but Sam said "You’ll miss the best birding!" so we changed it to 5:45 am. We had a boat tour of the marsh with Reuben, who knows where all the birds of that marsh hang out, 6-10am. March 18.  We got killer looks at Agami Heron, Jabiru,  Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures, Boat-billed Herons, Snail Kites, Gray-Necked  Wood-Rail, Pygmy Kingfisher, Roseate Spoonbills, Black-Collared Hawk, Laughing Falcon--70 species altogether, many in great numbers.  We departed for the airport at 10:30am, after shooing a hen out of our car.  We had our rental car returned and were in line at American airlines by 11:15am, for our 2pm flight.

 

Ideas for a future trip:

 

I compared  the list of a couple who spent 9 days at Chan Chich  to our list.  Of the 219 birds on their list,  80-odd are not on our trip list, and we saw or heard 50-odd birds that they missed. They saw 11 species of mammals, including 4 we did not see. We saw 12, including 5 they missed.

 

It would be possible to do a Northern loop by car through Bermudian Landing to Gallon Jug, and then return to the airport by way of Orange Walk and Crooked Tree.  It’s not clear from my map that the road from Bermudian Landing west goes through to Gallon Jug, but both Camille Young and the expatriate American owner of the El Chiclero (We ate there 2X. Reasonable prices. Good food. Choices.) restaurant in Burrell Boom assured me it does.  I read somewhere there exists a must-have book for motorists in Belize. My map was adequate for the motoring we did. But before doing a trip where the roads were not marked on my map, some of which might be technically private, I would get hold of that book.

 

However, on our next one-week trip to Belize, and we do want to go back, we are leaning towards flying to Chan Chich for a few days, and then renting a car for a weekend (3 nights) to stay at, maybe, Banana Bank for 2 nights (to pick up Monkey Bay and do justice to Guanacaste Park--BB is between them) and then stay the last night at Crooked Tree again. A party of 3 or a party of 5 are optimal for flying to Chan Chich, as one charters a 3-seater or a 5-seater plane. We have a 3^rd in mind.

 

 

Eva W. Casey                                

Somerville MA

U.S.A.

May 22, 2002