Belize Adventuring
From the jungle riverbank our group of eight settled into inner tubes and paddled backwards against the gentle current. "Turn on your headlamps!" directed our guide, Pedro, as we entered the mouth of the cave. Swallows darted around us as we continued paddling in the diminishing light. The cave took on a mystical air, our headlamps the sole illumination as we negotiated the limestone walls and rocky outcroppings. We reached shallow water and shouldered our tubes, then waded upstream. There the cave roof lowered to within five feet above the riverbed.
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The river channeled against one of the walls at the cave’s first large chamber. We directed our headlamps up to the ceiling towering 100 feet above us. There stalactites mirrored the up-pointing stalagmites at our level. Creatures flying in the streaky light caused some of us to jump. "No worry," advised Pedro, "they're only fruit bats. " He proceeded to show us scorpion-spiders (unique creatures displaying characteristics of both their namesakes) and blind catfish in the river pools. We climbed up on a ledge to view the Monkey God, sculpted 1,200 years earlier by Mayans who had used this cave as a place of religious ceremony. Pedro then suggested that we turn off our headlamps. We entered yet another world. Blackness. There was no difference between opening and closing our eyes... the sound of river waters resonated like far-away talking spirits. |
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During five hours of cave exploration we reached more than a mile into the four-mile cave and climbed several ledges where we encountered pure white crystal formations and Mayan fireplaces covered with artifacts of Mayan pottery. Later, as we floated downstream back into daylight my wife and I couldn’t help but share our excitement for the incredible diversity that we were encountering in Belize: yesterday, amazing snorkeling along Belize’s barrier reef; today, river caving in the central mountains; tomorrow, jungle river kayaking and exploring southern Belize’s Mayan ruins… all in addition to our daily "adventure" of lounging at our base for exploration, Jaguar Reef Lodge, with its peaceful beach and comfortable veranda restaurant and bar.
Jaguar Reef Lodge
Situated on one of the most beautiful and isolated sections of Belize’s southern coastline, Jaguar Reef Lodge has become a world-renown eco-tourism establishment. Luxurious cabanas are scattered among the palm trees lining a pristine sandy shore. For the more budget-minded traveler the neighboring Caribbean Shores Bed and Breakfast provides comfortable rooms with access to the beach and lodge facilities. The central guest desk and dining veranda have commanding views over the Caribbean. Guest facilities include use of beach furniture, mountain bikes, kayaks, and a swimming pool.
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What most differentiates Jaguar Reef Lodge is its incredible offering of adventure day-trips: three options for barrier reef snorkeling; three options for mountain caving and cenote exploration; two options for Mayan ruins visits; wildlife hikes in Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve or to lush mountain waterfalls; horseback riding tours; and, custom reef-fishing or diving trips. All tours include transportation from the lodge with excellent tour guides. Another option is a day visit or multi-night stay at Coco Plum Cay. The small island has a beautiful beach with five bungalows and views to a number of nearby cays. For an independent day closer to the lodge, a two-mile bike ride brings guests to the associated Iguana Day Lodge on the Sittee River with great jungle bird watching and river kayaking. We paddled both upriver and downriver viewing numerous tropical birds, including a large flock of egrets, sunning iguanas, and stilted riverbank homes at the Caribe village of Sittee River. It’s no wonder that most visitors to Jaguar Reef Lodge stay for at least a week.
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Belize’s Barrier Reef
The world’s second largest barrier reef, 200 miles long, sits approximately twenty miles off the coastline and sports the Caribbean’s best snorkeling and diving sites. In the course of two days we snorkeled at four major sites spanning a ten-mile section of reef from Tobacco Cays Cut south past South Water Cay. The crystal-clear waters and variety of hard and soft corals, sponges, and sea fans made a perfect environment to view the variety of creatures: seven-foot-span eagle rays, wrasses or hinds, parrot fish, squirrel fish, barracudas, moray eels, jacks, blue-striped grunts, sergeant majors, butterfly fish, damsel fish, trigger fish, and angel fish. An added attraction was a stop just off the bird sanctuary, Man-of-War Cay, where we viewed a large colony of frigates in the midst of their mating and nesting season. A capper for our second day of reef snorkeling was an overnight stay in one of the comfortable bungalows at Coco Plum Cay. The beach lounging, kayaking, and dining were top rate, and the world turned definitely slower on "island time."
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Mayan Sites
Belize sits at the center of the ancient Mayan world. At its height there were one million Mayans in Belize alone. The abandoned Mayan sites display unique stone architecture and artifacts of one of the most advanced civilizations of pre-Columbian Americas. Today, less than half of the 600 Mayan settlements from the Mayan Classic Period, 700-800 A.D., have been discovered. My wife and I joined a tour offered by Jaguar Reef Lodge to two unique Mayan sites in southern Belize. The site of Nim Li Punit numbered 5,000 inhabitants during its heyday. We toured several plazas and building sites, as well as a ball court. Housed in a small museum at the site entrance was Belize’s largest Mayan stela, a 31-foot-long column of rock with a carving of the Mayan ruler who sported the "Big Hat" headdress which is the site namesake. We next visited Lubaantun, or "Falling Stones," southern Belize’s major archaeological site. The ceremonial center of the large site sat atop a ridgeline with views reaching to the Caribbean. There were several large buildings and plazas, as well as three ball courts. Obviously Lubaantun had held a high place in the Classic Mayan world. Precision-cut stones, fit together without mortar, and rounded building corners were unique architectural features discovered there.
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Belize’s Varied Cultural Heritage
Belize today is truly a mixture of cultures and languages. Belize’s population numbers about 250,000, including approximately 30,000 Mayan descendents who subsist on farming and live in small villages of wooden-planked homes with thatched roofs. Belize’s Mayan population is divided into three unique tribes speaking individual dialects. Other major cultures and languages include Gaifuna, Caribe (a Creole or pidgin English), and Spanish. English is the common thread of communication among Belize’s diverse population.
| Our stay at Jaguar Reef Lodge enabled us to become familiar with the Garifuna culture at nearby Hopkins village. A one-mile bike ride brought us to the place rightly dubbed "the friendliest place in Belize." The Garifunas are descendents from the intermarrying in the 1600s of shipwrecked African slaves and St. Vincent Island’s native Arawak population. When the English defeated St. Vincent in 1797, they deported the Garifunas to Honduras and British Honduras, now Belize. Today’s Garifunas proudly maintain their heritage while readily sharing their goodwill and culture with outside visitors. One evening we enjoyed a local Garafuna group singing and dancing to the hard-driving beat of punta drummers. |
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A World of Possibilities
Although our eight-day stay at Jaguar Reef Lodge seemed to end too soon, we had to admit that this had been our most exciting and varied tropical vacation. We had experienced but a sampling of the available adventures provided by the lodge and the millions of surrounding acres of pristine reef and rainforest. Belize and Jaguar Reef Lodge had opened a world of exploration possibilities.
Click here for details to plan your own trip to Belize.
Les Furnanz
