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Blue Hole National Park (Hummingbird Highway) – The Blue Hole is a pristine blue cenote, water bubbling up from a spring at the bottom of a deep pool. The pool is natural, with a sandy bottom, fish swimming in the clear water, hummingbirds flying around, ferns growing in lush profusion in the cliff above. There are paved steps down to the pool, no jumping or diving. |
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Before your swim, take a one mile hike on the Hummingbird Loop Trail, that goes up, around the hill, and down through the jungle. The trail is draped with vines and creepers, listen for birds, and look for lovely green lizards and frogs on the forest floor. |
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For a level trail, just walk as far as the kids feel like up the Dusky Antbird Trail; trail starts near the shaded picnic tables. |
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Green Iguana Conservation Project (San Ignacio) – The green iguana is endangered in Belize because local people eat the female iguanas as a delicacy. At the project, iguanas are raised from eggs, and when they're big enough, released back into the wild. On the tour, visit two enclosures, one with 40 large iguanas, the other with 75 young ones, which are very bright green. Best of all, kids will have fun, not just holding a green iguana in their hands, but having little iguanas sitting on their head too! |
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The Project is located at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, guided tours are every hour on the hour. |
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Horseback riding – Kids who love horses will enjoy a horseback ride through the tranquil tropical forests and fields in the Cayo district. Ride are available from one or two hour guided rides, to half day rides with picnic lunches, additional swimming or inner tubing on the river. |
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Green Hills Butterfly Ranch – At the butterfly ranch, kids will see colorful species of butterflies native to Belize. The butterflies are raised from eggs, and allowed to fly free in the butterfly house. When we visited, it was a dazzling display of Blue Morpho, Glasswing, Mexican Blue, Red Rim, Gray Cracker, Swallowtail, Colobura, Malachite, and Banana Owl butterflies. Go in morning when butterflies are active. |
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In addition, there's a Blue Morpho demonstration area, where you'll see each stage of development, from egg to caterpillar to pupa (takes 7 weeks), then in 12 days the pupa hatches. There's a shaded picnic area, the Butterfly Ranch is open daily. |
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Nighttime walk in the jungle – One evening our guide took us for a walk in the jungle after dark (only our headlamps to light the way). It was a completely different world from daytime. Birds and butterflies are sleeping, but other animals are awake, such as tree frogs, katydids, grasshoppers, kinkajous, armadillos, and a small boa constrictor who'd just finished his dinner. |
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Tips for exploring the rain forest |
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Slather on insect repellent, you don't want itchy bumps on legs and arms. |
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Wear closed-toed shoes that can get wet, don't run around in flip flops. The forest floor may be wet and damp, large roots grow across trails. |
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Take bottled drinking water, it's warm weather. |
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Bring binoculars to spot birds high in the trees, and headlamps for nighttime jungle walks. |
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Waterproof camera is a plus (rain forest can be drippy). |
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Listen for sounds of birds – there's so much life all around. |
