Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize
We left the harbor of Puerto Cortes, Honduras very quietly and had the gentle seas to push us on to the next and last country of our amazing fifteen day sojourn . The country of Belize was next, and by daybreak we found ourselves off the southern town of Dangriga. Dangriga means, “here the sweet water lies” in Garifuna, the language spoken by the people who live here. They are descendants of African slaves and indigenous Indians originally inhabiting South America. The sea was calm and after clearing with the local authorities, we took Zodiacs to the beach and headed out by bus with our Belizean guides to the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve.
The Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve comprises an area of about 400 km square on the eastern slope of the Maya Mountains in southern Belize. The Cockscomb Basin has been aptly named “cockscomb” derives from the range of mountains on the northern fringe of the reserve which looks like a rooster’s comb when seen from the east, especially from the sea. It also contains the second highest mountain in the country and the rocks found here are over 250 million years old! It’s called Victoria Peak and is 1120 meters high. The park was established in 1986 after various studies persuaded the government of Belize to set aside and preserve this habitat for jaguars.
We struck out in various directions following the paths into the dense wall of green. Red-capped and White-collared manakins and violet saberwings were just some of the amazing birds seen. Some of our guests cooled off with a delightful dip in the cool clear pool at the end of the Waterfall Trail.
By late afternoon, we had repositioned the ship a short distance to the south and we were anchored off the area known as the Sapodilla Lagoon. We planned to have Zodiac and kayak excursions to explore the interior. The Cabbage Haul Creek, that empties into the lagoon looked promising. We followed the Red Mangrove channels as they proceeded deeper into the flat savannah land. It was exciting to see an Aplomado Falcon, a first for me! But our afternoon jaunt passed quickly and once again we were on our way to our floating home and to think about what wonderful discoveries we might encounter on the last day of our odyssey.
We left the harbor of Puerto Cortes, Honduras very quietly and had the gentle seas to push us on to the next and last country of our amazing fifteen day sojourn . The country of Belize was next, and by daybreak we found ourselves off the southern town of Dangriga. Dangriga means, “here the sweet water lies” in Garifuna, the language spoken by the people who live here. They are descendants of African slaves and indigenous Indians originally inhabiting South America. The sea was calm and after clearing with the local authorities, we took Zodiacs to the beach and headed out by bus with our Belizean guides to the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve.
The Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve comprises an area of about 400 km square on the eastern slope of the Maya Mountains in southern Belize. The Cockscomb Basin has been aptly named “cockscomb” derives from the range of mountains on the northern fringe of the reserve which looks like a rooster’s comb when seen from the east, especially from the sea. It also contains the second highest mountain in the country and the rocks found here are over 250 million years old! It’s called Victoria Peak and is 1120 meters high. The park was established in 1986 after various studies persuaded the government of Belize to set aside and preserve this habitat for jaguars.
We struck out in various directions following the paths into the dense wall of green. Red-capped and White-collared manakins and violet saberwings were just some of the amazing birds seen. Some of our guests cooled off with a delightful dip in the cool clear pool at the end of the Waterfall Trail.
By late afternoon, we had repositioned the ship a short distance to the south and we were anchored off the area known as the Sapodilla Lagoon. We planned to have Zodiac and kayak excursions to explore the interior. The Cabbage Haul Creek, that empties into the lagoon looked promising. We followed the Red Mangrove channels as they proceeded deeper into the flat savannah land. It was exciting to see an Aplomado Falcon, a first for me! But our afternoon jaunt passed quickly and once again we were on our way to our floating home and to think about what wonderful discoveries we might encounter on the last day of our odyssey.
