Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve, Belize
Early morning found us traveling in a bus into the mainland, past the Garifuna town of Dangriga, and along a highway bounded by extensive orange crops. Sunrise caught us at the Reserve, where we divided into different walks along the forest. Some were longer and tougher, and some were light walking. Many different birds were seen, as well as tracks of different mammals, in the mud. The most interesting were of agouti (a large rodent), and many tracks of jaguar!
By midday we were back on our ship, had lunch, and moved a few miles towards the mouth of the Sittee River, the river that originates within the enormous preserve we had visited earlier. Here we took Zodiacs up the river, admiring the lush vegetation consisting mostly of different mangroves, and the wildlife. The great views were of magnificent male iguanas of a fantastic orange and gray color, with their numerous dorsal spines, sunning themselves on the tops of plant clumps, or along the branches of the trees. And, as some of us were looking at a marvelous male iguana pretty low on a bush, our doctor pointed out a Morelet’s Crocodile sitting on the seashore five yards from us. It didn’t even move! So we called the other Zodiacs, they slowly approached the animal, and everybody got a good view of this magnificent denizen of the tropical rivers of Central America. Eventually, it turned around and quickly disappeared back into the river.
We then turned around to drive back to the ship, when to our surprise we were directed to stop at a lovely rustic riverside bar, to enjoy a few soft drinks and beer. We were the only humans there!
Early morning found us traveling in a bus into the mainland, past the Garifuna town of Dangriga, and along a highway bounded by extensive orange crops. Sunrise caught us at the Reserve, where we divided into different walks along the forest. Some were longer and tougher, and some were light walking. Many different birds were seen, as well as tracks of different mammals, in the mud. The most interesting were of agouti (a large rodent), and many tracks of jaguar!
By midday we were back on our ship, had lunch, and moved a few miles towards the mouth of the Sittee River, the river that originates within the enormous preserve we had visited earlier. Here we took Zodiacs up the river, admiring the lush vegetation consisting mostly of different mangroves, and the wildlife. The great views were of magnificent male iguanas of a fantastic orange and gray color, with their numerous dorsal spines, sunning themselves on the tops of plant clumps, or along the branches of the trees. And, as some of us were looking at a marvelous male iguana pretty low on a bush, our doctor pointed out a Morelet’s Crocodile sitting on the seashore five yards from us. It didn’t even move! So we called the other Zodiacs, they slowly approached the animal, and everybody got a good view of this magnificent denizen of the tropical rivers of Central America. Eventually, it turned around and quickly disappeared back into the river.
We then turned around to drive back to the ship, when to our surprise we were directed to stop at a lovely rustic riverside bar, to enjoy a few soft drinks and beer. We were the only humans there!
