We drove from Belize City south about 3 1/2 hours toward Placencia a long sandy peninsula that parallels the coast. The kids did well to endure the car ride with ipad time and snacks. We picked up some fresh fruit from a road side stand; lots of Mandarin Oranges, limes and Pinapples. When ended up staying at the Nautical Inn in Siene Bight the town next door to Placencia. We were right on the beach and it was a great start to our trip perfect for relaxing on the beach. The Caribbean in this part of Belize is very shallow with very small waves perfect for the kids. The coast is protected by a barrier reef off the coast.
After we vegged for a day or so we visited a preserved area call the Cockscomb Wildlife Basin, known to have one of the densest Jaguar populations in all of Central America. The area was a preserved tropical jungle with beautiful huge trees and dense forest. We were going to do a hike to a waterfall but got a hearty “no” from the kids instead we settled for a tiny hike to a wrecked airplane
and an inner tube float down the river. It was quite fun and refreshing in the hot weather.
No sightings of Jaguars, I think it is pretty much impossible to see them during the day, but we learned that they get lots of pictures of them from camera traps. There are estimated to be 60 adult Jaguars and various other large cats including Puma, Ocelot, Margay and the Jaguarundi in the 128,000 square acre tropical jungle. Although we didn’t see any wild cat sightings we did find this life sized statue that was perfect for a ride.
I think actually seeing a Jaguar in the wild would scare the hell out of all of us.
Travel-Trotter 