A couple of Saturdays ago I woke early to the sound of rain beating down. It seemed like it was set in for the day, but in your interest dear reader I decided to go ahead anyway with my plan to report for you from Belize Zoo.
The zoo is on the Western Highway about 30 miles outside Belize, and easily reached on the bus.
It's a triumph of conservation, as all the animals are native to Belize, and housed in spacious quarters which closely resemble their natural habitat. None of the animals there have been taken from the wild; the first creatures to live there were semi-tame animals that had been used to make a documentary film and couldn't return to the jungle, and their numbers have been increased by donated or confiscated pets, injured wild animals, or residents from birth.
My favourite was a spotted jaguar cub, who was desperately trying to find shelter from the still torrential rain under a cahoun palm tree (there was a black jaguar as well).
It's a small zoo, set out as "a walk through Belize". The trail takes you to the pine ridge, the forest edge, the rain forest, the lagoons, and the river forest. Hand-painted signs identify the animals in a few amusing Creole rhymes or sentences.
For such a small country Belize has an amazing selection of wid animals; as well as the fabulous sleek jaguars, there are ocelot, puma, tapir, crocodile, deer, monkeys, peccary, agouti, snakes and all sorts of birds including an impressive and very rare harpy eagle.
All in all, it was a lovely visit, and I didn't mind getting wet - the rain doesn't seem as bad when
the temperature is above 80 degrees.
In Belize they take conservation issues very seriously; if only they would give the same amount of attention to their needy children.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment