During my recent travel bloggers’ press trip to Belize, I bypassed mere travel in favor of adventure — the kind which can leave you smiling, proud of yourself and just this side of exhausted.
My favorite adventure in Belize? One epic day in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, prowling the forest, tubing the South Stann Creek, splashing in an ice-cold waterfall and fanny-sliding down a rocky mountain stream.
Setting out for Cockscomb from the southeast coast in Placencia, the journey of our merry band took just shy of two hours. The initial road heading north from Placencia is little more than a rocky ribbon of orange-red earth bordered by rough canals, expat palaces, makeshift shacks and a sprawling, unmarked public dump until the whole mess finally joins the official pavement of the Southern Highway. If you end up, like us, traveling in a van without impressive shocks, I urge you to save your neck, chest, rear and dental work and don’t sit in the far back row.
David Vernon and said tiny toad
The Cockscomb, a dedicated jaguar preserve since 1986, is full of bumpy switchbacks, puzzling plants and stealthy critters, and the incomparable natural history expert David Vernon knows them all. He’s also got a quiet, wry sense of humor: The name of his tour company, Toadal Adventure, was inspired by a tiny black Belizean toad that, if licked, will send you into a psychedelic stupor from which you may not return.
Vernon, who runs Toadal with his wife Deborah, grew up running around the basin when it was little more than a half-wild collection of mountain bike trails. When environmental scientists started coming here in the early 1980s, spurred by interest in what turned out to be the Earth’s largest concentration of jaguars, he began shadowing zoologists, botanists, lepidopterists and ornithologists, and reading every related book he could find.
Years later, he’s able to answer just about any question you might have about this 250,000 acre park. For instance, as you tramp along the shady paths beneath towering, buttressed trees, he’ll tell you that this is no jungle but rather, a tropical moist broadleaf forest. David says that what most of us imagine as the “jungle” is actually a Hollywood construct; the Hindi word jangal refers to the Indian savannah, where nineteenth-century colonial hunters were taken to bag big game. The lion is thus king of the jangal, while the jaguar is king of the broadleaf forest.
As we tramped amongst the broad leaves, David would point out the red and peeling gumbo-limbo, often referred to (for its sunburned appearance) as the Tourist Tree; a vast array of epiphytic orchids clinging to every other nook and cranny; and cohune palms, whose original “hard nut to crack” is used for elaborately carved Belizean figurines.
He also knows exactly where the butt rocks are. While inner-tubing on the wide and rushing South Stann Creek (on inner tubes you can borrow from the park’s visitor’s center), it’s helpful to know when to clench and lift to avoid snagging your behind on the shallow rapids. I assure you you haven’t lived ’til, in a spirit of love and camaraderie, you’ve hollered out “Butt rock!” for all of nature to hear.
Unafraid of tush-ular retribution, I was able to relax and let the swirling current float me past tall trumpet trees draped with thick vines. Giant blue herons wafted across the water, wings spread wide, as dark green turtles slipped from the rocks in a flurry of yellow butterflies known as sulfurs. Now and again in my reverie I’d veer dangerously close to an embankment, just in time for a tangled root/emergency brake to pop up out of nowhere and save the day.
Tubing the South Stann Creek
Where a rope was drawn across the water, my group and I clambered up the red and muddy embankment, dropped our tubes, and started our 20-minute climb to Ben’s Bluff Waterfall.
At the edge of a deep, cold swimming hole, we all pushed through the roaring, knee-quivering spray to a damp cave behind the falls…which is pretty damn exhilarating, if you ask me.
From Ben’s Bluff, there are two ways back to your tube: The way you arrived or down the river rockslide. As with all of Cockscomb, you don’t have to have a guide, but I can’t imagine I would have attempted this odyssey without one. Following David’s specific instructions, I was the first one to plunk down on my sodden bum and start the slippery crawl forward. Seemingly for his own enjoyment, but ultimately for ours, David beckoned us all one by one to the edges of the steepest slides and pulled us, one by one, into a splashing whoosh of chilly pools.
I loved every one of the 15 minutes it took to slide my way down, up until I had to find my feet on shaky pebbles. Who knew that traveling on your butt-cheeks could feel so stable?
Dragging myself back through the forest, I’ve rarely been so grateful to change into dry clothes and inhale a tangerine. But after a quick spin through the cheery visitor’s center and a flip through their album of motion-triggered jaguar photos, I was prepared to stay the night and see some of these nocturnal creatures for myself.
However, a press trip participant’s time is rarely their own — so, I’ll save this adventure for another trip to Belize.
*All photos by Belize Tourism Board*
GETTING TO COCKSCOMB: Located in the northeast of the southern-central Stann Creek district of Belize, the Sanctuary is about two hours northwest of Placencia or 20 minutes south of Dangriga on the Southern Highway. I’d recommend booking a tour guide to get the most out of your experience, but if you want to explore the park more independently, you could book a transfer or 4-wheel drive vehicle from the airport in Belize City.
WHERE TO STAY: Our group stayed in lovely comfort at the Inn at Robert’s Grove in Placencia, but if you’re intent on seeing jaguars and other beasts of the night, you can also stay in some pretty cool cabins inside the park. There are decent public shower facilities and the toilets doth not offend.
WHAT TO BRING:
- $5 US for the entrance fee and extra cash for the handmade wares of a local women’s collective.
- Bug repellent. I imagine Cockscomb is advertised as a “Human Buffet” in Mosquito Monthly. Using a combination of high-DEET repellent and Avon Skin So Soft, I remained bite-free.
- Rugged but airy clothing that you can get very, very wet. It’s pretty muggy here, but I found the water too cold for an actual bathing suit; I was happier staying clothed for the park’s wetter adventures.
- A dry change of clothing. The individual, on-site showers with locking doors provide ideal changing areas.
- Food and water. Even if you’ve come with a tour, it couldn’t hurt to bring extra; the park has none.
See also
TWT Travel Binder: Belize
In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle…the Coati Sleeps Tonight
Looks like you all had good fun in Belize. I’ve been following Gennaro and Kerrin with their Belize posts. The Inn you stayed at looks really nice, too!
Looks like so much fun! We loved cave tubing in Belize because the water is so warm and the caves are gorgeous, but I can imagine that river tubing would have been even better.
Jen, welcome — it’s nice to cyber-meet you! I’ll have a post up soon about The Inn at Robert’s Grove — it really would be a perfect getaway for a young family.
Akila, river tubing was one of the great joys of the trip — but I have to say, I didn’t find cave tubing warm at all! (Fun, just not warm — I even wore a light rain jacket
) For me, its perks had more to do with filtered light, ferns, and tiny bats nestled high above my head.
Melanie,
Who could you recommend from the airport to Cockscomb as we are staying in the White House for 5 days inside the park and need to stop at the grocery store. Or since we’re in the park do we need to go ahead and rent a 4 wheel?
Dianne, I’m so jealous that you’re going to stay inside the park! Have a wonderful time.
You don’t really need a vehicle inside the park, but my first choice would still be to rent a 4×4. The drive is gorgeous, the roads are safe and well-paved (until the 6-mile road to the park entrance, that is), and you’d have more flexibility with grocery shopping.
I can’t personally recommend a transfer company; if it were me, I’d just barter with a taxi driver upon arrival at the Belize City airport. You could schedule a return ride at that time or simply ask folks in the park’s visitor center to help you book a ride back out.
Since my trip to Belize, I’ve heard good things about the country’s buses (cheap, relatively timely, don’t require advance reservations). You’d need a bus headed from Belize City to Punta Gorda.
You could 1) get off in Dangriga, do your shopping there, then take a taxi to the park or 2) do your grocery shopping in Belize City, hop the 3.5-hour bus, ask your bus driver to stop at Maya Village, then take a $12.50 US taxi ride the 6 miles in to the park. Inquire of National Transport Services http://bit.ly/5MEs7Q or see this guide to other bus companies in Belize: http://bit.ly/6JVAty
Thanks Melanie – I think that I’m with you that it would be nice to have a car to go other places at the hottest part of the day. We like early morning and evening and night in the jungle! That way we could go over to Sittee or something in that area. Thanks for all the suggestions. As we would get in at 2:55 PM and grab the car and head over, the sun sets on that day at 6:32 PM. Do you think we can make it over before dark in that time frame? Hey if you are around, there is an extra bedroom and you are welcome – July 31 to August 5. You are most welcome to come hang with us two adventure women!