Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve
We’ve arrived in Belize! During the next three days we will be visiting a wide variety of habitats, both terrestrial and marine. Today we started with Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve. It is also known as Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, and is composed of subtropical rainforest with all that entails. It lies just to the east of Belize’s highest mountain, Victoria Peak at 1,120 meters high, and much of the interior of this basin is rarely visited. It escaped settlement by the local Maya because of its poor granitic soils, and the logging company that later used the area left in the 1970s. Fortunately, the steep slopes found in the far western part of the basin had made the harvesting of many valuable hardwoods virtually impossible. Today, this is a protected expanse of rainforest virtually untouched by humans, where jaguars still roam freely.
It started in 1982 when the Belize Audubon Society, the premier conservation organization in the country, asked the Wildlife Conservation Society to assess the abundance of jaguars in the country, which they did and discovered the highest density of these large cats lived in the Cockscomb Basin. The forest reserve started in 1986 with 250 hectares being set aside to protect the jaguars in the country, but in 1990 it was expanded to 41,457 hectares.
I don’t believe we arrived with real expectations of seeing any of these creatures, but it was hard not to at least hope a little bit. Whatever the case, on arrival at headquarters, we split into groups for a variety of walks going every which way and spread out along the trails under the canopy and dappled shade filled with bird calls. Quite a few of us chose to end up, one way or another, in the cool waters of a freshwater pool at the base of a small waterfall. There were no jaguar sightings today, however.
On leaving the reserve we stopped by the small Mayan village of Maya Center. Here live the Mayan families who have a vested interest in the preservation of the jaguars and their habitat. Many of the men of this village are employed as wardens and workers inside the reserve, and the women have formed a cooperative for the sale of local handicrafts. When an item is sold, the artist receives a percentage of the sale, and the community keeps the remaining amount for equitable distribution among all families of the community, but also for public works (we passed the well kept yard of the local elementary school).
An exceptional morning was followed by a visit to Sapotilla Lagoon and Cabbage Haul Creek in the afternoon, mangrove banks explored by Zodiac and kayak, until the river led us out from between tall trees, into the wetlands of a pine savanna forest and an orange fiery ball gently sank towards the horizon at sunset.
We’ve arrived in Belize! During the next three days we will be visiting a wide variety of habitats, both terrestrial and marine. Today we started with Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve. It is also known as Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, and is composed of subtropical rainforest with all that entails. It lies just to the east of Belize’s highest mountain, Victoria Peak at 1,120 meters high, and much of the interior of this basin is rarely visited. It escaped settlement by the local Maya because of its poor granitic soils, and the logging company that later used the area left in the 1970s. Fortunately, the steep slopes found in the far western part of the basin had made the harvesting of many valuable hardwoods virtually impossible. Today, this is a protected expanse of rainforest virtually untouched by humans, where jaguars still roam freely.
It started in 1982 when the Belize Audubon Society, the premier conservation organization in the country, asked the Wildlife Conservation Society to assess the abundance of jaguars in the country, which they did and discovered the highest density of these large cats lived in the Cockscomb Basin. The forest reserve started in 1986 with 250 hectares being set aside to protect the jaguars in the country, but in 1990 it was expanded to 41,457 hectares.
I don’t believe we arrived with real expectations of seeing any of these creatures, but it was hard not to at least hope a little bit. Whatever the case, on arrival at headquarters, we split into groups for a variety of walks going every which way and spread out along the trails under the canopy and dappled shade filled with bird calls. Quite a few of us chose to end up, one way or another, in the cool waters of a freshwater pool at the base of a small waterfall. There were no jaguar sightings today, however.
On leaving the reserve we stopped by the small Mayan village of Maya Center. Here live the Mayan families who have a vested interest in the preservation of the jaguars and their habitat. Many of the men of this village are employed as wardens and workers inside the reserve, and the women have formed a cooperative for the sale of local handicrafts. When an item is sold, the artist receives a percentage of the sale, and the community keeps the remaining amount for equitable distribution among all families of the community, but also for public works (we passed the well kept yard of the local elementary school).
An exceptional morning was followed by a visit to Sapotilla Lagoon and Cabbage Haul Creek in the afternoon, mangrove banks explored by Zodiac and kayak, until the river led us out from between tall trees, into the wetlands of a pine savanna forest and an orange fiery ball gently sank towards the horizon at sunset.
