Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Also popular are day/overnight trips to the Cayos Sapodillas (or Zapotillas), well off the
coast of southern Belize, where there is great snorkeling (Q400/1000 for one/two days). A
minimum of eight people is required and exit taxes and National Park fees (Q160 in total)
are separate.
Río Dulce Tours
Tour agencies in town offer day trips up the Río Dulce to Río Dulce town (departing at
9:30am and 2:30pm), as do most local boatmen at the Lívingston dock. Many travelers
use these tours as one-way transportation to Río Dulce, paying Q125/180 one way/round
trip. It's a beautiful ride through tropical jungle scenery, with several places to stop on the
way.
While a boat ride on the Río Dulce is not to be missed, if you're coming from Guatem-
ala City or Puerto Barrios it makes much more sense to catch a boat from Puerto Barrios
to Lívingston and do the tour on your way out.
Shortly after you leave Lívingston, you pass the tributary Río Tatin on the right, then
will probably stop at an
indigenous arts museum
set up by Asociación Ak' Tenamit
(
www.aktenamit.org
)
an NGO working to improve conditions for the Q'eqchi' Maya pop-
ulation of the area. The river enters a gorge called
La Cueva de la Vaca
, its walls hung with
great tangles of jungle foliage and the humid air noisy with the cries of tropical birds. Just
beyond that is
La Pintada
, a rock escarpment covered with graffiti. Further on, a
thermal
spring
forces sulfurous water out of the base of the cliff, providing a chance for a warm
swim. The river widens into
El Golfete
, a lake-like body of water that presages the even
more vast expanse of Lago de Izabal further upstream.
On the northern shore of El Golfete is the
Biotopo Chocón Machacas
, a 72-sq-km reserve es-
tablished within the Parque Nacional Río Dulce to protect the beautiful river landscape,
the valuable forests and mangrove swamps and their wildlife, which includes such rare
creatures as the tapir and above all the manatee. A network of 'water trails' (boat routes
around several jungle lagoons) provide ways to see other bird, animal and plant life of the
reserve. You can stay here, at the community-run lodge Q'ana Itz'am (
Click here
)
in La-
gunita Salvador but you will have to arrange transportation separately.
Boats will probably visit
Islas de Pájaros
, a pair of islands where thousands of waterbirds
live, in the middle of El Golfete. From El Golfete you continue upriver, passing increasing
numbers of expensive villas and boathouses, to the town of Río Dulce, where the soaring
Hwy 13 road bridge crosses the river, and on to El Castillo de San Felipe on Lago de Iza-
bal.
