Belize Raptor Centre

Belize is home to some 30 species of hawks/eagles/kites and 10 species of owls. With a diverse and commonly agrarian populace, Belize has many complex interactions between these amazing birds and the people they co-exist with.

The Belize Raptor Centre has two key aims:

1. to educate the people of Belize about the importance of these birds to their ecosystems and to appreciate their nature beauty. They do this through community outreach and school programs.
2. to rehabilitate (and ideally release) birds that are injured through human contact
   

 This Ornate Hawk-Eagle is a fine example of the stunning animals they have on hand and how close you can get to the animals and appreciate them in detail.

Getting there is a bit of an ordeal as the local road is frequently steep and periodically washed out, but the facility is quite modern with a space for flight displays as well as a variety of hutches and enclosures to keep the animals safe and separated. Raptors are individually very solitary and competitive, commonly viewing each other as enemies or food, so spacing them apart is key.

The staff were wonderful about accommodating our late (and somewhat unexpected) arrival. Although the official demonstrations for the day was over, the founder generously spent several hours giving us a private tour of the facilities, including up-close encounters with a number of their residents, including this gorgeous Spectacled Owl.

But the undeniable star of the show was a black vulture there named Cora that loved to attack boot laces and was patted like a dog by the founder. Cora had been rehabilitated at the facility, then tried to make it on her own but returned underweight and was getting healthy again. I had never considered vultures to be affectionate and was proven wrong in that assumption.

If you'd like to visit, donate, or learn more, check out their website for more information.

San Ignacio

San Igancio is the capital and cultural-economic hub of Cayo, the largest of Belize’s six districts. Founded in the 1800s, the twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elana have largely amalgamated over time into a single centre. Two major thoroughfares run through the area, the George Price Highway between Belize City and the Guatamalan border, and the Hummingbird Highway which runs south to Stann Creek. We stayed at the Maya Bella Hotel in the centre of town and enjoyed our stay immensely

The regional population is highly diverse, with Mestizo, Kriol, Mayan, Chinese, and Mennonite communities all active participants. Tourism is a large source of income as the region is famed for its ruins, caves, waterfalls, and riverways.

 

San Ignacio was our base camp for exploring Western Belize as it was both affordable and centrally located to a number of interesting sites. There were originally a few days planned for relaxing, but the sights in the area proved too alluring and we maintained a very go-go-go pace throughout our visit.

Special shout out to the Ko-Ox restaurant for having the best food in town. Steven had heard about them before we arrived and we must have eaten 2 out of 3 meals there every day the entire time we were in the area.

Tikal Pt 2 - the Little Details

Tikal was a wonderland for photographic opportunities around colossal structures, but there were several smaller scenes and moments at a less grand and more human scale that I absolutely think are worth highlighting.

For instance, the city fell over 1,100 years ago, but the people still remain on the land and hold it as a sacred site. We were there on an unremarkable Friday afternoon in December (not an eclipse or other major celestial event) and a sizable group of people had gathered in the plaza between Temple 1 and 2 to have a ceremony and maintain their connection to this ancient place.

I've mentioned in the past how voracious the jungle is and how quickly it would cover up the city again given a chance. Its easy to think that, once a University leads a formal excavation that the site is preserved for an extended period, but the key structures were alive with local people manually clearing vegetation off the temples with machetes. The top of Temple 3 had a decent sized tree growing from it and our guide said that it had only been there a few months and that the top was due for another clearing shortly.

One of the few domesticated animals of the Americas, there are both the domesticated species (which became so popular in Europe in the 1500s that is now a food staple for numerous feast days), and the Ocellated Turkey, which is endemic only to the Yucatan region. Both species were eaten, sacrificed, and viewed as sacred.

The ancient Mayans revered turkeys, considering them powerful while also valuing their iridescent feathers and leg spurs.  One Mayan leader was posthumously honoured as Chak Ak'ach Yuhk, roughly translated as “Great Male Turkey, Shaker of Cities.”

Tikal Pt 1 - The Majesty

 Tikal was the capital of an ancient Maya conquest state which arose in 400BC and collapsed around 900AD. The entire 16km2 core site has been mapped and includes over 3,000 structures, most of which remain un-excavated. Major restoration by the University of Pennsylvania took place from 1956 to 1970 and it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

The modern name, adopted in the 1840s,  means “at the waterhole” in Mayan, while hieroglyphic scripts discovered more recently refer to it as Yax Mutul. Regardless of the name, it remains an important cultural space to this day, with modern Maya still conducting rituals within its grounds.

 There are 4 key tourist sites in the area. Temple 1, the “Temple of the Great Jaguar” a 47m funerary pyramid where Jasaw Chan K’awil was entombed in 734AD. Temple 2, the “Temple of the Mask” is 38m high and dedicated to the wife of Jasaw Chan K’awil but no tomb has been found. 

Temple 3, the “Temple of the Jaguar Priest” is 55m high, but the base is entirely obscured by vegetation.Our guide told us in advance that we wouldn't recognize Temple 3 even when we were at the base of it and he was not wrong.

Temple 4 is the tallest pre-Columbian structure at 70m high and marks the reign of Yik’in Chan Kawil. A wooden scaffold runs up the side, allowing you to ascend Temple 4 to the very top, offering a stunning view of the other three temples peaking out of the surrounding rain forest.

For those of you wondering how to tell a pyramid from a temple, the easy rule of thumb is that a pyramid is flat at the top while a temple has an entrance and inner chamber at the top. Based on this, the major structures at Tikal are all temples while Altun Ha, Cahel Pech, and others are predominantly pyramids.

Altun Ha

The Maya were a Mesoamerican civilization famed for their architecture, art, mathematics, and astronomical studies. Maya history divides into three key periods:

1. Preclassic period (2,000BC to 250 AD) was characterized by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery. The first large cities featured paved avenues with stelae standing in major plazas. Population in the hundreds of thousands.
   
   
2. Classic period (250-950AD) was the zenith when major agriculturally intensive city-states engaged in trade, alliances, and warfare. Elaborate palaces and pyramids became widespread as did hieroglyphic monuments to their rulers. Population of 7 to 11 million.
   
   
3. Postclassic period (950-1539AD) was one of decline as many Classic cities collapsed and influence shifted to the Yucatán. Root causes appear to be a combination of drought, brutal warfare, and environmental degradation prior to the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Population between 3 to 5 million.

6 million of their modern descendants inhabit their ancestral lands and speak over 28 surviving languages. The cities collapsed but the people never disappeared.

Altun Ha was the first Belizean ruin we visited and its main temple is also used on the Belikin beer label. Large portions of this site have yet to be excavated while some areas have had their stones appropriated for nearby residential construction. Popular with cruise ship tourists lacking time to go deeper into the country, it was an impressive ruin and a first taste of the splendour of Mayan architecture yet to come.

The picture above may look like a stairway up a hill with a tree on top, but its actually an un-excavated temple which has been swallowed up by the jungle. If you ever wonder how these cities were lost, google what they looked like BEFORE they were identified and cut back, its incredible how easily the jungle can make a grand pyramid 55m tall just disappear into the landscape.

Crawlies of Belize

Of course Belize wasn't all pyramids, rain forest and birds, there are lots of little creatures living out their lives underfoot whenever and wherever you go. Mexican red-rump tarantulas are quite common in the area and we got nice pictures of this one as it was crossing a gravel road out in the countryside. Unbeknownst to tourists, they make readily identifiable burrows in short grass and guides throughout the area can quickly winkle them out just by disturbing their lair with a piece of grass for a few seconds.

Many of you may get the heebie-jeebies from spiders, so you'll be glad to know that there are insects down there that give the heebe-jeebies TO spiders. Take for example this Milde's Tarantula-Hawk Wasp, which looks colourful to us but is a nightmare to tarantulas. The reproductive cycle of the wasp requires that the female sting a live tarantula, which paralyses it, and then drag it to its den. There the spider serves as a living meal for the young implanted in that that gradually eat their way out. But don't worry, these wasps are necatarivorous, living entirely off flowers and only supplementing a small part of their diet from your nightmares.

Hermit crabs were quite common on the grounds of Steven's condo complex and we went out several evenings to watch them scurry around at night while mosquitoes (not pictured) would feast on us. Hermit crabs are very neat since they don't produce their own shells but rather scavenge discarded shells of other animals and trade-up as they grow and require a larger home. This can result in a "vacancy chain" as they hand shells down the line from largest to smallest with everyone getting an upgrade to the preceding crabs old digs. Spending more time on land than you might expect, the shells also help keep their gills humid so they can breathe out of the water.

Cahel Pech

Located in the heart of modern San Ignacio, Cahel Pech was once a palatial hilltop home for an elite Maya family. Overlooking the junction of the Macal and Mopan rivers, the site includes 34 excavated structures, including ballcourts and a central acropolis arranged around a pyramid 25m high. Originally covering 26 square kilometres, only a fraction has been examined and artifacts remain common on the ground in the surrounding area.

Like so many cities of the Maya period its original name is lost, with Cahel Pech meaning “Place of Ticks” from when the area was used as pasture during the first archaeological studies in the 1950s. Unfortunately, looting in the 1970s left a gap in potential scientific understanding no stelae or writing have since been recovered. Official  excavation of the site began in 1988 and was completed in 2000.  
There is evidence of continuous habitation as early as 1,200 BC, making it one of the oldest recognizable Maya sites in Western Belize, until it too was victim of the Mayan collapse around 800AD. At the peak of Maya civilization, this site would have been home to as many as 15,000 people.

Having a site such as this in easy walking distance from our hotel was a real treat, and since its a lesser-known ruin we practically had it to ourselves. Although the view from the top of the pyramid largely obscured by trees and therefore less impressive than others, the lines and design of the plaza entrance were incredibly unique and interesting to me.

 

Crooked Tree

66 square kilometres of lagoons, creeks, log wood swamps, and pine savanna were set aside in 1998, providing sanctuary to some 300 bird species which call the area home. Crooked Tree Village was settled in 1750, one of the earliest inland European settlements in the country, in the search of numerous different natural dyes produced by plants in the log wood forest. Today a small Creole population of 600 still call the area home, supplementing tourist income with fishing and cattle ranching.

The only sensible way to see diverse wildlife in a wetland is by boat. Fortunately the hotel we stayed at was very active with bird watching by boat and we booked a morning excursion. Despite a brief setback with some persistent early rain we had a great time peering for raptors and herons amidst the greenery.

Snail kites, their incredibly curved bills specialized specifically for eating apple snails, were a constant presence overhead, though their dark colour and the muted skies made for challenges getting a nice exposure.

Crooked Tree is also famous for its wading birds, such as this Green Heron (...shown below not wading...) and there were numerous egrets and other species of heron in the area. Crooked Tree is famous for its Jabiru storks, the largest waders in the Americas, but we were unlucky in spotting any.

The only downside was that, once we were off the boat, there was little to do in the area making our stay a brief one overall as the regional trails were too wet to enjoy a hike, and the Morelet's Crocodiles we had seen on the outing were small but still took the wind out of a more spontaneous trek around.

Introduction to Belize

We spent 2 weeks in Belize, a small Central American country. Kathryn's brother Steven has been living there for the last five years so we were overdue for a visit. Our time was roughly divided into thirds with a portion in the western interior near the Guatemalan border, a portion along the centre and eastern coast, and a portion on the island of Ambergris Caye.

Despite being a small country, Belize has a fairly diverse population. Once a Spanish colony (before Britain took over in 1840 and Independence in 1981), Hispanics remain the largest demographic group, with a sizable Creole population making up the next largest group. Originally a collection of Maya city states, the indigenous people still make up around 10% of the population with a combination of Europeans and Asians rounding out the group.

The motto of the nation, which they believe strongly enough to print directly on the flag is "Sub umbra floreo," which means, "Under the shade I flourish."

Another unique cultural group are the Garifuna, a people of mixed African and Amerindian ancestry which originated on the island of Saint Vincent. Much of the populace were transplanted to Central America in 1796 after a series of conflicts with the English known as the Carib Wars. 

The Garifuna language is an offshoot of Arawak with numerous European influences and in 2001 was declared, along with their music and dances, to be a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible History of Humanity” by UNESCO.

 Interestingly, Belize is not only the most sparsely populated country in Central America, but it is unique for having a far higher population 800 years ago at the peak of the Mayan empire than it does today.