Belize: The Belize Zoo

Belize: The last stop... The Belize Zoo

We were nearing the end of our two weeks in Belize, and we were flying out on a Saturday at 2pm. When flying in and out of Belize City, travelers must make some choices.

When we flew into Belize City, we did ok, but the reputation for it being an unsafe place still bothered me. For our last night in the country, I had originally booked a place near the bus station, thinking that it would be convenient if we arrived a bit later by bus from Dangriga. But the area around the bus station didn't make me feel as comfortable, so I was looking into other options.

Many other travelers had told us that we had to take our kids to the Belize Zoo. It's on the way to Belize City, and you can spend the night at an education center next door. You can also arrange for airport transportation. Although we were initially turned off because of the cost, we decided this was a much more fun, educational, and safer way to spend our last night and to get ourselves happily to the airport.

That turned out to be a fantastic decision, and we would highly recommend to any traveler, particularly traveling families, to go with this option either when arriving or when leaving via Belize City.

After catching the speedboat ferry from Tobacco Caye to Dangriga, we walked to the bus station. It was Dec 26 and buses were not leaving as frequently as normal. Rachel and I were both surprised to see another passenger at the station nursing his wounds as he bled freely from his face, but we weren't quite sure if we could or should try to help. Bus stations are also one of the few places where we paid to use the restroom ($1). We waited less than an hour at the station before we caught a bus to Belmopan.  This bus ride was a fun adventure just like the other bus rides, and we enjoyed watching the scenery and the people on the bus. From Belmopan, we got of our bus as it turned into an 'Express Bus' from Belmopan to Belize City, and wouldn't be able to stop to let us off at the zoo. So we entered the station and were expecting to wait a while. We paid to use the restroom there, and then considered buying some food, and were approached by drivers offering to take us to the zoo in a taxi, telling us the bus would be a while because it was a holiday. It turns out the bus pulled right in, and we hardly had to wait at all, taking away the business from the potential taxi drivers.

Our conductor helped us get off the highway at the Belize Zoo, and our walk into the zoo entrance was about 100m. It was only shortly after lunch, so we decided to store our bags in lockers and pay entry tickets to explore.

The zoo was awesome. We've been to some amazing zoos in the USA and this was right up there. All the animals are local to Belize, so they thrive in the local environment. We enjoyed seeing birds and cats. We watched the jaguarundis, jaguars and ocelots for several minutes each. The jaguars found Ava particularly interesting, and followed her every move along the fence with intensity. I was curious if the electric fence would really work to keep us safe! Then we enjoyed watching the spider monkeys for a long time. Rachel also held a boa constrictor.

jaguarundi

coatamundis wrestling

margay

tapir

We got a ride from the zoo to the education center and checked in to 'La Casita', a little house on stilts that we were going to sleep in. The center has trails to walk around, people volunteering and studying all around, and cool programs happening. We ate a nice dinner at the dining hall and put on bug spray to return to the zoo for a night tour.

We thought perhaps it would be a bit "too much zoo" since we had already spent hours there in the afternoon, but the night tour was a whole different experience. We went around with a guide to feed each of the animals.

Feeding the tapir was a cool starting point, but it only improved from there. We watched the zoo keeper feed raw meat to the jaguar by hand, through a wire fence. While the jaguar was occupied by the food, we could reach and touch the jaguar's paws! It was crazy. The zoo keeper proceeded to feed a cougar, an ocelot, and a margay and each animal was awesome and terrifying.

Our sleep that night was cool - the walls to the casita let in a cool breeze, and we reached for our extra packed blankets in the middle of the night.

We got a ride to the airport after a relaxing morning walking around the trails of our complex, and flew from Belize City to Calgary without any issue.

Another great choice: we opted to sleep in the airport hotel in Calgary. We didn't have to pack winter coats and we were able to sleep on crisp clean sheets, have hot showers, and sleep from about 11pm-5am before our early morning flight home to Victoria, BC.

We arrived home to find our stockings filled, house safe, and all things in order.
*********************************************************************************

We are so grateful to have had this excellent family adventure. We are proud parents of our amazing little travelers, and cannot wait for our next international exploration!

Tobacco Caye

We arrived in Dangriga early so that we could get a ferry to Tobacco Caye, which was our destination for Dec 24-26.

Lonely Planet describes Tobacco Caye:
"Sitting right on the barrier reef, 12 miles from Dangriga, tiny Tobacco Caye is the budget destination among the central cayes... it shows in the fairly basic array of cabanas and lodge rooms, but the setting and the surrounding azure waters are still dreamy. Mainly composed of sand, palm trees and some guesthouses, just 200yd long and 100yd wide... a fabulous place for snorkeling, diving, fishing or hanging out on a hammock."

So it sounded to us like a great place to spend Christmas and relax! We booked way ahead at JoJoe's by the Reef, and asked for special permission to fit the four of us in a 3 person room. (Many accommodation choices in Belize offered one double or queen bed with one single bed for 3 persons maximum, and many would not let us book for 4 people.) The cost of staying there included all meals.

We weren't entirely sure if we were to pay for our own ferry transport to/from Dangriga, or if our accommodation would arrange that for us. We should have clarified better when we booked.

But we arrived at the ferry dock and talked to a boat captain, who was able to call the island for us and confirm our situation. So the captain said we could go out on his boat at 9am, which gave us some time to get breakfast and some snacks in Dangriga. We were also able to leave our bags at the cafe after we ate, while we walked around and shopped. (FYI - I think staying in Dangriga overnight for 1 night would have been just fine.)

Ferry dock in Dangriga

Breakfast of fryjacks at the cafe next to ferry dock

The big supermarket in town

Guy in plaid shirt gets SOAKED

We sat near the front of the speedboat, which means that we didn't get very wet, but the people sitting behind us got soaked! It was a choppy ride, and bouncing along was mostly fun but a little unnerving, and our boat captain did an amazing job. We sped through other little islands on our way, wondering which one was our island. It was about 40 min on the fast boat before we pulled into the dock of Tobacco Caye and were welcomed by the host and his three young grandsons, who were very excited that two new kids had arrived to play.

The view from our room front door

We checked in (it was about 10am) and enjoyed the beauty of Tobacco Caye with its beautiful white sand and blue water. We had kayaks and stand up paddle boards to use, hammocks to relax in, and snorkeling gear all included. We also got lunch and dinner (Christmas Eve turkey dinner) on the 24th, 3 meals on the 25th, and breakfast on the 26th before we left. The head cook (Carmen) did an excellent job with fantastic food. Our kids were served huge portions, so Jason and I had way more than we could eat with their leftovers. We would have done fine without bringing any snacks with us at all.

The dining room for meals

The island had a small protected little lagoon with shallow water for paddling and wading in, although there were conch shells and coral (sharp) and some plastic bottles/trash here and there, as well as stingrays to watch out for. But it was safe and protected compared to the choppier and deep ocean around the island.

The girls were not really interested in snorkeling, which really did require stronger swimming skills to get to the prettier coral.

On Christmas day we decided to make up a "duathlon", where we ran around the whole island 3 times and then jumped in the water. Each lap of the island took less than 3 min, and provided technical challenges, such as jumping over ropes or dodging coconut shells or sharper rocks or coral bits. It was really fun and silly.

One evening we walked out on the boardwalk and saw 4 huge gray Southern Stingrays swimming around with 2 eagle rays. We watched them for about an hour, and it was very special and calming. Watching the pelicans fish was also great.

I spend about two hours one morning just lying in a hammock reading my novel. I didn't have to cook or clean, it was warm and peaceful, and my children were happily playing safely nearby and didn't need me to watch their every move. As a mother, I think this is one of the most relaxed things I have experienced, and it felt like a huge 'win' as we have clearly reached a new phase in our lives where relaxation is possible. I've never done an all-inclusive resort before this, but our 48 hours of all inclusive beach life were fantastic.

The sunrises and sunsets were outstanding.

Dinner on Dec 25

On Boxing Day, we packed up our things, ate a delicious breakfast, and got on the speedboat back to Dangriga. It was a much calmer day and nobody got wet. We saw a little tiny island full of birds, and enjoyed watching the huge red throats of the male frigate birds.

Frigate bird with a large red throat