Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
afterwards its usefulness declines rapidly and within twenty years can become
completely barren. If the trees are stripped from a large area soil erosion will silt the
rivers and disrupt rainfall patterns.
Belize's forests are home to abundant
birdlife
- 574 species (260 resident) - the most
visible of the country's wildlife and a huge draw for visitors. You'll be astonished by the
sheer number of birds you can see just by sitting by a cabin in any one of the jungle
lodges in Belize. Parrots, such as the
Aztec
and
green parakeets
, are seen every day, and
you might catch a glimpse of rare species from the tiny
orange-breasted falcon
to the
massive
harpy eagle
, the largest of Belize's raptors. Jewel-like
hummingbirds
feed by
dipping their long bills into heliconia flowers, and their names are as fascinating as
their colours: the rufous-tailed, the little hermit, the white-bellied emerald and the
violet sabrewing, to mention just a few.
Although Belize has sixty species of
snakes
, only nine are venomous and you're
unlikely to see any at all. One of the commonest is the
boa constrictor
, which is also
the largest, growing up to 4m, and it poses no threat to humans. Others you might see
are (venomous)
coral snakes
and (non-venomous)
false coral snakes
; you'd need to be
quite skilled to tell them apart.
Frogs and toads
(collectively anurans) are plentiful, and
at night in the forest you'll hear a chorus of mating calls. You'll also frequently find the
red-eyed tree frog
- a beautiful, pale green creature about 1in long - in your shower in
any rustic cabin. Giant
marine toads
, the largest in the Americas, weigh in at up to 2lb
and grow to 8in. These are infamous as the “cane toad”, which caused havoc when
introduced into Australia; it eats anything it can get into its capacious mouth. Like
most frogs and toads it has toxic glands - a characteristic the ancient Maya employed
in their ceremonies by licking these glands and interpreting the resultant
hallucinations.
One thing you'll realize pretty quickly in Belize is that you're never far from an
insect
.
Mostly you'll be trying to avoid or destroy them, particularly mosquitoes and sandflies.
But the
butterflies
are beautiful, and you'll see clouds of them feeding at the edges of
puddles on trails; the caterpillars are sometimes enormous. The largest and most
spectacular are the gorgeous, electric-blue
blue morpho
and the
owl butterfly
, and you
can see many more on a visit to one of a number of
butterfly exhibits
. Perhaps the most
impressive of the numerous ant species are
army ants
, called the “marchin' army” in
Belize, as the whole colony ranges through the forest in a narrow column voraciously
hunting for insects.
Leafcutter ants
(“wee-wee ants” in Kriol) have regular trails along
which they carry bits of leaves much larger than themselves - which is how they get the
name “parasol ants”. The leaves themselves aren't food, but they help in the growth of a
fungus that the ants do eat.
Spiders
are also very common: take a walk at night with a
torch and you'll see the beam reflected back by the eyes of dozens of
wolf spiders
.
Tarantulas
, too, are found everywhere - the fangs may look dangerous but tarantulas
won't bite unless they're severely provoked.
The Maya Mountains
he
Maya Mountains
run southwest to northeast across south-central Belize and
straddle the border with Guatemala. This wild region, covered in dense forest and
riddled with caves and underground rivers, has few permanent residents. The most
accessible areas are within the
Mountain Pine Ridge
(see p.131) and the
Cockscomb
Basin Wildlife Sanctuary
(see p.193), home to the world's only
jaguar reserve
.
The flora and fauna, though similar to those found in the tropical forests of
Guatemala, are often more prolific here as there's much less pressure on the land.
Though rarely seen, the
scarlet macaw
is found in large flocks in the southern Maya
Mountains and the Cockscomb Basin. All of Belize's cat species are found here, too:
Jaguars
(“tigers”) range widely over the whole country, but the densest population is
found in the lower elevation forests of the west;
pumas
(“red tigers”) usually keep to
remote ridges;
ocelots
and smaller
margays
(both spotted and called “tiger cat” in
