Belize Zoo???

[holdon216]

I know , I know....try the ports of call. But i can't seem to find much on the zoo there.

Has anyone ever been and could you please share the details of the how's and how much, and how far.

Having a hard time finding something we want to do. Did Bannister this past July.

Caye Calker is a bit far. Don't want to do ruins or cave tube. And don't want to just stay on the ship. Anyone with any insite i would be greatful!!!!

[mariamherrera]

We were in the same boat as you.. we didnt want to do cave tubing and we didnt just want to stay on the boat.we did not go to the zoo but we did go with a company called experience Belize and they gave us a city tour and took us to a baboon/howler monkey sanctuary. it was an incredible expiernce. The tour guide Shane who is in charge of the monkeys has been working with these monkeys for over 20 years/ they are completely wild and there are literally thousands of them however only two of them he has worked with enough to trust him to physically interact with them.. he coxes them down out of the trees and then feeds them fruit.. and then he gives you a turn to feed them.. it was an amazing experience.. to feed wild monkeys who do not normally trust humans they have the softest hands and and were so gentle and sweet.. they can also take you into the jungle a little bit and show you jaguars, igaunas and crocadiles! We didn't have enough time to do al lthat because we wanted to see some other sights. but if we ever go back we would want to go into the jungle more to see the rest! The tour guides are Jehovahs witnesses and very friendly very honest, and very affordable! I highly recommend them. I have pics from our experience and a link to their website and face book page if you are interested!

[gaelan]

I know , I know....try the ports of call. But i can't seem to find much on the zoo there.

Has anyone ever been and could you please share the details of the how's and how much, and how far.

Having a hard time finding something we want to do. Did Bannister this past July.

Caye Calker is a bit far. Don't want to do ruins or cave tube. And don't want to just stay on the ship. Anyone with any insite i would be greatful!!!!

 

My two cents on Cauker Caye in response to another previose question....We were in Belize this past March.....we have done the cave tubbing before...which was a lot of fun....but as you note going through Belize City is a little uncomfortable. Anyway on to snorkling...the best places to snorkle are unfortunatley not something you can get to from a cruise ship...although doing some research last time I believe there was a company that would fly you there and back to one of the prime spots but somewhat pricey. We did take a tour with an outside operator coralbreezetours.com who offered Stingray Alley snorkling and Caye Cauker exploration. There were four of us DW, DSIL & DBIL and myself. You are picked up by a water taxi right beside where the tenders dock in Belize City and taken to Cauker Caye about a very pleasant 45 minute ride and very...very nice. At Cauker Caye you transfer to a snorkling boat which was max 15 people and they take you to two seperate places....one to play with the stingrays and another that offers nice coral and lots of fish. The guides and Captain were excellent and very knowledgable. They are safety focused and make sure that no one inadvertantly touches and damages the coral....we then went to Cauker Caye to a small restaurant and eat lunch which was very good and with many choices and then toured the small town on Cauker Caye (no cars) only bicycles and golf carts. We then met back at the dock and took the water taxi back to the tender area where we enjoyed a few cool beers before tendering to the ship. We loved the tour and was great value.

[firefly333]

Have you googled it? Id go just for the drive and to see animals. Sounds like a good idea to me.

 

We took a cab to do a city tour, the two of us. Had I known the girl who sold it to me was also our tour guide, Id have said no, because I didnt like her right off, but liked the cab driver good enough. She said it was a law to have both a guide and a driver. This was the only excurion Iv ever done I didnt like. Honest, Im not fussy. Maybe because I lived in Hawaii for 10 years, seeing the poor crammed in behind bars on the windows to me was depressing. Meant it wasnt safe to live there. Wished I hadnt gone into the city and seen the countryside.

 

We went to to the Ignuana farm twice now (I think thats enough) in Roatan, just because the drive back there is fun.

 

I dont know, but Id be interesting in doing it myself.

[firefly333]

We were in the same boat as you.. we didnt want to do cave tubing and we didnt just want to stay on the boat.we did not go to the zoo but we did go with a company called experience Belize and they gave us a city tour and took us to a baboon/howler monkey sanctuary. it was an incredible expiernce. The tour guide Shane who is in charge of the monkeys has been working with these monkeys for over 20 years/ they are completely wild and there are literally thousands of them however only two of them he has worked with enough to trust him to physically interact with them.. he coxes them down out of the trees and then feeds them fruit.. and then he gives you a turn to feed them.. it was an amazing experience.. to feed wild monkeys who do not normally trust humans they have the softest hands and and were so gentle and sweet.. they can also take you into the jungle a little bit and show you jaguars, igaunas and crocadiles! We didn't have enough time to do al lthat because we wanted to see some other sights. but if we ever go back we would want to go into the jungle more to see the rest! The tour guides are Jehovahs witnesses and very friendly very honest, and very affordable! I highly recommend them. I have pics from our experience and a link to their website and face book page if you are interested!

 

This sounds fabulous too. We saw a curch built by Negros and while it was sad, Im not a church person maybe. Id have loved to see the monkeys. We did Victor in Roatan to hold his monkeys especially.

 

Ill write that down, Experience Belize.

[fee]

Hello my husdand and I did a Zoo tour. We enjoyed it. we took our tour from one of the stands on the island. Make sure you use bug spray. O and if you buy anything from the little gift shop they do not give change back in american money.

[firefly333]

Id like to do both. The site the above poster mentioned is very reasonable. .. at least to me.

 

$32.60 per person Belize Baboon Sanctuary tour includes AC

transportation, fun guides, and entrance fees, and

12.5% GST Tax.

 

Im happy if I can find something under $50 pp I like to do.

[mariamherrera]

here is a link to their face book page..

 

and if any are interested much in religion or are Jehovah witnesses themselves. They will also take you to their assembly hall and show you where the missionaries live- we are witnesses as well so this was special or us to see

 

for a city tour/baboon tour/ and to see the church and other Jehovah witnesses sites we only paid $36 per person! we tipped them as well even thoug hthey did not ask and the fee said tips were included.. I had heard that in belize you dont feel very safe. but we felt totally safe, got to go in the country side of Belize and meet a lot of locals, it was a fantastic amazing experience! and feeding the wild howler monkeys will forever be an incredible experience in my mind!

 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Ladyville-Belize/Experience-Belize-Tours/123314897679244

[Azure Moon]

Hi.

 

Hubby and I went on the ship's excursion "Belize Zoo and City Tour" in 2008.

 

It was our first time to Belize so the city tour was interesting for us. The driver was good and the tour guide was very knowledgeable about the city and country. Enthusiastic about sharing the information and also giving a bit of personal information about living there.

 

The tour guide was also our guide through the Belize Zoo. He was pretty familiar with the happenings at the zoo so the information he provided about the zoo and its animals was pretty good.

 

Hubby and I have been to big city zoos, so the difference between them and the B.Z. was something of a surprise. The fences/enclosures, the paths, the jungle, the animals.

 

The animals the zoo has are all native to Belize, so that makes the zoo very interesting. Jaguar, Ocelot, Tapir, Scarlet Macaw, Kinkajous, ...

 

http://www.belizezoo.org/ This is the website for the zoo. Take a moment to read the information that comes up after you click on Life After Last Flight. I found that info. interesting since we'd been to the Belize Zoo in Oct. of 2008 right before the heavy rains, during the time of the struggle over the dam project, and having learned about the history of the zoo and the American woman who started it.

 

A couple of weeks after the cruise, I went to the local zoo and found the book The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw by Bruce Barcott.

The following link is to a page about the author and shows the book.

http://www.brucebarcott.com/. I bought the book but before getting to far into it, I gave it to a woman whose close relative had lived in Belize for a while. Then she passed it on to the relative. I keep meaning to purchase another copy but by the time I got back to the local zoo they no longer carried it. I need to make a stop to the bookstore or shop on line. After writing this, guess where I'm heading :).

 

It was so amazing to have gone to the local zoo so shortly after seeing the one in Belize. I still had the pictures taken in Belize so it was kind of mind blowing to look at them while strolling around looking at "our" zoo. :cool:

 

TIP: *** Take a good bug spray that works for you!

 

While we were at B. Zoo people were passing around bug spray (the tour guide had a can, also, that he passed around to anyone who needed some), I ended up putting three different kinds on myself. I still got bit by mosquitos :mad::(. Other people didn't seem to get bitten at all or bitten as much as I did. Hubby didn't get bit by those flying menaces :cool:. But if mosquitos love you as they do me, arm yourself :p.

 

The second time I went to Belize and took a trip to Mayan ruins in the countryside I took and used a product called Ultrathon, a product I'd not used before, but it was recommended to us by the travel clinic nurse, and I found that that product worked for me.

 

TIP *** Wear closed-toe shoes. There are fire ants along the paths.

 

Hubby and several other people on the zoo tour wore sandals and no socks. At least a couple of people, hubby one of them, were bitten by the fire ants. People gave their feet an extra shot of bug spray after that.

 

The Belize Zoo is a great place to visit and I'm sure you'll find the animals and the closeness you get to them very cool!

 

Have fun on your cruise and all of your excursions.

[jkjmt]

We went to the Belize Zoo about 9 years ago, when our daugther was 8. We loved it. Our daughter's social studies unit in third grade was rainforest animals, so when she did her report, she had actual pictures of herself and the animals.

 

Loved the tapirs, sloths, and howler monkeys the best.

[OSUcruiser]

we did the belize zoo and LOVED it. It is nothing like a zoo in the USA.. It has the cages that are all in arms length . It is so cool. Even the big cat! I took tons of pictures. We took a private tour that included a city tour and lunch by a river. Darwin was our guide! I would go back!

[Tightwallet]

JHere is a link to about 20 reviews

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g291968-d300169-Reviews-Belize_Zoo-Belize_City_Belize_District.html

[pjpurple6]

Just went to Belize Zoo in Oct , and I loved it.

[holdon216]

Can you tell me more about it? How did you get there? What was the travel time? How much time do you need to go through the zoo? What did it cost? TY!!! :confused:

[NextOne]

Just a heads up - the Belize Zoo is closed until January because of damage from Hurricane Richard. We had hoped to see it earlier this month, but went to the howler monkey sanctuary instead. That was a nice alternative.

[wadethegringo]

Just a heads up - the Belize Zoo is closed until January because of damage from Hurricane Richard. We had hoped to see it earlier this month, but went to the howler monkey sanctuary instead. That was a nice alternative.

 

It’s a jungle out there, Zoo animals ready for human visitors

 

Since Hurricane Richard’s fury left many of the animals at the Belize Zoo without their habitats, staff members at the facility, with the help of volunteers, have been feverishly trying to restore things back to normal. That effort started soon after the storm when the zoo had to close its doors for the clean-up and retrofitting. Well, now the animals and their caretakers are prepped and ready to welcome you and your family or classmates for the big opening this week. The reopening is centered around books and posters highlighting the three-year-old jaguar Junior Buddy, to showcase the plight of jaguars. Environmental Educator at the Belize Zoo, Jamal Andrewin explains.

Jamal Andrewin, Environmental Educator, Belize Zoo

jamal andrewin

 

“It’s called, “The Jaguar – Help Me or Hurt Me” and its message is quite simple. It’s to remind Belizeans that there are about six to eight hundred jaguars left in Belize. That’s conservative estimates and the population is on decline due to deforestation and persecution due to hunters and farmers right? Apart from this they suffer from the fact that they are hunted as well for their teeth and their claws to make jaguar jewelry. For example, the picture of this jaguar tooth pendant here, we’ve had reports of it coming from areas such as Lamanai, Placencia, San Pedro, and tourists are targeted. They’re approached, they’re offered these and – Belizeans as well. So the idea of this process is to remind people that it’s completely illegal to purchase these that no jaguar is found dead and the parts are taken. They are more than likely killed and they are killed for these purposes.”

The opening is set for December first at the same location at mile twenty nine on the Western Highway. The zoo charges students on school trips a dollar for each child and teacher.

[Mississippian]

The Belize Zoo is great. My children loved it and so did I. I think the best way to get there is just to rent an SUV or car. As I recall, it is about 20 miles west of Belize City, just west of Hattieville.

 

The zoo is somewhat primitive, but that is what is so neat about it. You come much closer to seeing the animals in their natural habitat then in the concrete pits that American zoos typically have. The advice about having good, quality bug spray is worth listening to anywhere in Belize.

 

Just north of Hattieville, on the road to Burrell Boom, is the national prison. They have a gift shop with items carved and made by the prisoners. When one of their items is sold, they get the money, which they use to buy soap and sundries. I don't know if this place could handle a tour bus, but it is worth a stop.

[wadethegringo]

Rebuilding the Belize Zoo

 

 

About a week ago.

[wadethegringo]

[wadethegringo]