Continuing off week #1 of Belize posts is the DTourz company located in Placencia Belize and run by Doyle Gardiner. He has been a tour operator since 1999, spending his time teaching others about the nature, culture, and history of his native Belize. Many of his 7 different tour options are centered around the wildlife of Placencia, but he also offers tours for those interested in the Mayan cultural sites sprinkled around the area.
Doyle offers three tours in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, which is the only Jaguar preserve in the world, and one tour to see the Macaws that migrate down to Belize during the months of December-March. The three Cockscomb Basin tours offer three variations on when to see the sanctuary; night, day, or overnight. During the day tour you will stop at a banana plantation to check it out and a "Maya Centre" for souvenir purchasing on your way to the preserve. You'll take an informative hike through the jungle, learning about the flora and fauna that inhabit it followed by lunch and an optional water adventure. Its not officially called that, but I'm calling it that. You'll float around Stann Creek in an inner-tube for about an hour, followed by an excursion to a waterfall where you can cool off, and lastly you'll explore some natural water slides. Sounds like a day packed full of fun, and I bet you'll sleep real well after a day like that too.
The night hike, which is the one we did, starts at 6pm with a half hour drive to the preserve and a 2 hour hike through a daunting jungle in the dark. Filling our bellies with homemade stewed chicken, fried plantains, rice, and beans was necessary before departing on this adventure, and it was SO good too. However, I want to note right now that if you do not like creepy crawlies, do not, I repeat, DO NOT take this tour. we did not see any of the listed animals that the site says is possible to see (tapirs, howler monkeys, river otters, or wild cats) which I 100% understand...you can't control wild animals. We did see a Jaguar's eyes before it ran off and left its paw prints behind in the mud (picture below) I love creepy crawlies, so seeing the leaf cutter ant "highways" of all the little ants carrying their leaves, following in a little line from one end of the path all the way across to the other was very cool (picture below). But this is pretty tame, most people don't have worries about ants. What I loved that we saw were all the critters like the whip-tail scorpion, it has a flat face, huge pincers, and a ridiculously long tail. What a weird looking thing. We also saw normal scorpions, which glow under blacklight (picture of the one we saw is below), red coffee snakes (so cute!), a tarantula that we would have been able to pick up if she hadn't been so ornery, and an orbweaver spider hanging out in the pavilion we ate dinner in (picture below). We were given headlights to make spotting things easier, and Ky pointed out that if you shine your lamp at the grass, leaves, or trees, all the shining things we saw were actually spider eyes. Boy howdy were we surrounded by spiders, though they left us alone, after all we're the ones stomping through their living room! At one point Ky had everyone turn off their headlights and we just sat in the dark. It was honestly overpowering. The jungle was quiet, but somehow alive with the sounds of nature at the same time. The darkness was all encompassing and threatening, making us feel vulnerable and like we were part of the jungle that surrounded us. What we were actually hoping to achieve was to convince the kinkajous that we were totes cool and they could definitely come out of hiding if they wanted. But they didn't trust us, so they stayed up in the dense canopy of trees, rustling the leaves as they just followed us around. Due to the thunder and lightning threatening in the distance and the recent rain making to river unusually high, we missed out on the river tubing unfortunately.
If you're thinking "WOW. These both sound like great options, and I just can't pick which one I like better, DTOURZ has you covered there too! In that case you would do the overnight tour, which starts at 8am and ends at 12pm the next day. You get to enjoy both the day and nighttime Itineraries, lunch and dinner on day one, breakfast the second day, and your level of accommodations at the wildlife sanctuary. Not too shabby. Do you like the idea of a hike, but wildlife isn't really your thing? Rather check out ancient Mayan ruins or maybe a Mayan cave? Again, Doyle has you covered.
On the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave tour, you will explore National Geographic's #1 rated sacred cave in the world, learning about Mayan culture and exploring Mayan artifacts and sites for 4 hours. It seems like getting there is a bit of an adventure in itself as well, after driving 2.5 hours, you then have to cross a river 3 times and swim up to this cave's entrance! They also offer a visit to Xunantunich and the Blue Hole, which is another 2.5 hours on that famously scenic Hummingbird Highway and a ride on a hand-cranked ferry to cross the river. Here you will learn about the history of the Mayan people and are in for a treat with a breathtaking 360 degree view of the treetops of Western Belize and Guatemala; your reward after a 140 foot climb to the top of the "El Castillo" building. Lastly, and what sounds like my personal favorite of the three (I blame it on my sweet tooth), is the Mayan Ruins and Chocolate Factory Tour. On this one you'll visit two sites, Nim Li Punit (AKA Big Hat) and Lubaantun (Place of the Fallen Stones), with lunch at a local restaurant in between. After exploring the ruins and learning about the ancient Mayan civilization and its people, go to Ixcacao and learn how to make chocolate the Mayan way! Yes, not only will you tour the factory and (of course) try some samples, but you'll also get to make your very own chocolate as well. Lastly you'll make a stop at a spice farm that is the main producer of pepper and vanilla country-wide.
If you're thinking about going to Belize and want a lively guide with tons of experience and vast knowledge about the area, book with DTOURZ today either through their website or by contacting Doyle directly via e-mail. They even have a Certificate of Excellence awarded to them from Trip Advisor for consistently receiving great reviews.
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