Belize: November 2024
We spent several days looking for wildlife and scenery in Belize. The first few days were spent at the Iguana Reef Inn at Caulker Caye. This is a very nice hotel near the action in Caulker Caye but it maintains some small trees and things around it which attract spiny tailed iguanas and once the maintenance staff found a dwarf boa there (the boas on the island are very small). At night we saw a crocodile swiming next to the hotel. Grounds staff said it is there nightly but usually not until very late. We saw it around 9pm. The beach to the left also has a small area for seahorses but none were there when we went. Sting rays come in to the beach around 4pm and are habituated to people so they will swim right up to you. Nearby is a tarpon dock where people feed them and I was told sometimes also the frigate birds come down to be fed. The only mammal I saw was a manatee which I was able to snorkle with at the far edge of coral gardens. I had swam with them before in Crystal Springs, FL but the water was much, much, much clearer here.
From there we drove south stopping at the zoo to feed the tapirs and arriving at black rock after dark. Black rock lodge had the best food of the trip. They offer night hike where red eye tree frogs and sometimes kinkajou are seen. Unfortunately, I did not do the night hike. Early the next morning I checked the bird feeder and a coati was helping itself to the fruit. Birds around the property were trogons, various woodpeckers, and the the beautiful green honeycreeper. Basilisks, spiny tailed and green iguanas were around. The only other mammals I saw were agouti (many). After the morning walk we departed to Tikal across the border. We opted to hire a guide as the car insurance was void once crossing into Guatemala.
I was impressed with how much habitat is preserved around Tikal. We stayed at the Jungle Lodge which is located at the entrance of the ruins and very nice. We did the sunrise tour which gets you into the park at 4-5 am (depending on you guide). For birds we saw motmots, trogons, orange breasted falcon, and this was the only place we saw the Montezuma Oropendula and Northern Pootoo. We heard but did not see owls. Mammals were an opposum, spder monkeys (many), agouti. Our guide said he has seen Jaguar here but only a couple of times. Apparently the morlets crocodile can be seen here but we ran out of time to look for it.
Next we crossed back over into Belize and spent a couple of days at Sweet Songs Lodge. This lodge had the nicest accomodations with very modern cabins with AC, an infinity pool, a restaurant. The food and humingbird feeders were slightly better at black rock but overall I give sweet songs a slight edge. Birds included aracari, toucan, chachalaca. Mammals were agouti, black howler monkey ( a troop came through near the restaurant), and once dark Kinkajou. Staff also reported seeing Tayra on several occasions and tamandua and porcupine rarely. The hotel can also arrange a night walk for you if you’d like. The kinkajous come down a vine to the restaurant when they feel like it. The best thing to do is just go there at dark and order dinner and wait. Eventually, they will come, but no one can say for sure when. While we were there we visited the green iguana sanctuary at the San Ignacio Resort hotel which seems oddly next to the Casino in the middle of town. They also offer a nightwalk and told me they have kinkajou coming nightly and sometimes find other animals behind the hotel. 
Unfortunately, the last couple of days we spent in Belize was a tropical storm and we were lucky to not have our flight canceled (as happened to many others).
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