Western Belize Photo Gallery by Herb at pbase.com

Western Belize

Traveling westward, we stopped at the Belize Zoo so we could see some the local wildlife up close. In the Cayo district on the western border, we stayed six nights at duPlooy’s Lodge set within the jungle canopy along the Macal River. The area around the lodge was great for birding with several short trails along the river and through their botanical gardens. We also did days trips to the Five Sisters Waterfall and the Mayan ruins at Xunantunich (pronounced zoo-nan-too-nitch). We were lucky to be staying at the duPlooy's Lodge just before the start of their busy season so there were several nights when we were the only guest. This gave us a chance to talk with several of the young staff members and learn about their lives and ambitions.

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At the Belize Zoo	Tapir	Nose to nose	Deer	Ocelot
Ocelot	Emerald Toucanet	Emerald Toucanet	Jaguar	Coati
Coati	Illusive Jabiru	Jabiru	IMG_2462.JPG	Tunnel of trees
Grounds of the duPlooy's Lodge	Kay outside the main office	Path to our rooms	Entry to our rooms	Bathroom
Sitting area	Bedroom	Patio	Main dining room for the lodge	Ricky, our bartender for six days
Every night, kinkajous would come down from the trees for bananas	In the mornings, birds come to the feeder.	Collared Aracari	I was able to get very close
After two days, we moved to this lodge	Overlooks the jungle	Very nice place		Relaxing
IMG_2473.JPG	Our adopted pet away from home	Local cat lives at the lodge	Very friendly cat	Our third and final place in four nights
Bed much more comfortable than first place	Our bathroom	Who's that?	Very relaxing, I need one at home	Canopied walkway leads to a river overlook
There's more 200 feet of decking	IMG_2486.JPG	It's 30 feet to the ground below	Path to our lodge	Steps down to the river
Macal River	We used the canoes to paddle the river	The river is very calm at this juncture	Suspension Bridge along the river trail	Mayan hut in the Botanical Garden
IMG_2502.JPG	Lookout at the far end on the garden	Great views overlooking the jungle canopy	Drive in the rain to Five Sisters Waterfall	Is this right direction?
IMG_2512.JPG	Five Sisters Lodge overlooks the waterfall	This is a beautiful place	Grounds of the lodge	Grounds of the lodge
But it's 25 miles of dirt roads to get here	IMG_2522.JPG	IMG_2523.JPG	Dining Area	Balcony overlooks the waterfall
Nice rooms and reasonable rates	It's 286 steps down to the waterfall	There's an hydraulic lift available	But we decide to walk down
IMG_2540.JPG	Wow!	It's a beautiful setting	Swimming is allowed	Drinks after ascending the steps back to the lodge
Local artist	IMG_2549.JPG	Good, we left empty handed	Typcial truck	The road west
The road west	Old bridge over the Macal River	San Ignacio	San Ignacio	San Ignacio
It was Sunday, so most places were closed	Chinese are 15% of the population	Mayan ruins at Xunantunich		Exhibit
Hiking the ruins	Hiking the ruins	Hiking the ruins	Hiking the ruins	Hiking the ruins
The ascend	Break time!	First level and more to go	IMG_2600.JPG	IMG_2602.JPG
View below	View below	There's the top	IMG_2610.JPG	Up we go
We are two miles from the border of Guatemala	View from the top	Guatamela is in the distance	descend with care	IMG_2624.JPG
IMG_2627.JPG	Belizean soldiers patrol the grounds	GI Joe invites us for lunch but we had to decline	Roadside shops	Many of the goods were from Guatemala
Chaa Creek Lodge	IMG_2647.JPG	Checking out the rooms	IMG_2648a.JPG	It's 5 star lodge
IMG_2650.JPG	IMG_2651.JPG	IMG_2652.JPG	IMG_2654.JPG	Caesar's, great place for shopping and lunch
Grounds of Caesar's	Grounds of Caesar's	Grounds of Caesar's	Grounds of Caesar's	Grounds of Caesar's
Shops	Shops	I think she found something she likes	IMG_2690.JPG	Geno and I have coffee and meet Ike & Larry from the States
They are buying a home and plan to live in Belize	Unidentified Caterpillar		Gecko

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