Mainland Trip to The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center
We have long wanted to visit the Belize Zoo - all of their animals are native to Belize, and are there essentially as rescues - whether orphaned, injured, or due to becoming a "problem" with ranchers or locals.
Having the long weekend and FINALLY good weather, we booked an overnight stay at the Tropical Education Center (TEC) across the street from the zoo. It's rustic but exceptionally well-kept (their pool was nicer than many in San Pedro resorts!) and the closest option for lodging.
I'm prone to sea sickness, but at BZ$69 round-trip instead of BZ$340 for a flight (both prices per person) I sucked it up and got on the San Pedro Belize Express Water Taxi. HOT TIP: If you will be here for 2+ weeks, go to the office and buy a membership card for $10BZ. It gets you a lower fare and your 12th trip is free! It can take up to 2 weeks for your card to arrive, but we had ours in 2-3 days. It pays for itself on your first round-trip. Plus you get a discount on cargo, too!
We wanted to maximize our trip to "The City," so we planned to stop at Benny's (the Home Depot of Belize) and BenQuip, their offshoot that sells equipment, to see a vehicle. Brodie's is right across from there, which is like a SuperTarget, but smaller, and it sells sub sandwiches.
To accomplish all of this, we were up at the buttcrack of dawn to catch the 7 am Water Taxi.
The skies were clear, the water was calm, and we scored the "front seat" of the upper deck of the taxi. Super-smooth ride and no hint of seasickness!
The water taxi stops in Caye Caulker to offload and take on passengers and cargo, it's a brief stop then we were off to the city.
Many taxi drivers are waiting at the water taxi depot; always ask what the cost will be, there isn't a meter inside! Ed grabbed us and took us to Benny's for $20BZ.
Benny's is very "North American" with a clean, easy-to-navigate store. The pricing wasn't all that great, it seems like it's still cheaper to Belizean-Queen down products like faucets, light fixtures, etc.
Benny's had all of their Christmas displays up - it is two levels, like an old Sears inside a mall in the US!
We walked a few blocks up to BenQuip, then to Broadie's. The sandwiches were not as great as we expected, 2 slices of meat, but cheap. The big score there was Omeprazole - for acid reflux - that Nathan takes. 40mg dose, 30 pills, $14BZ! He was paying US$55 for 63 pills at Costco; that was 20mg.
I had planned (poorly) to hop on a bus for $4BZ each to get to the zoo. After hailing many busses, none of which were headed to the zoo, I called Ed. He wanted BZ$150 to go to the zoo. I knew TEC would pick us up for BZ$140, and I'd rather the money go towards the zoo, so we called Juan Carlos (JC), our contact at the TEC. He said he could be there in 45 minutes, so we waited/shopped at Design Depot, where many folks building homes source flooring, appliances, and more. Definitely a larger selection than you will find on the island, but they are pricey!
If you are ever standing on the side of the road in Belize City, expect every bus and many vehicles to pull over to offer you a ride!
JC picked us up and drove us out to the TEC, which is tucked off of the highway. It's so peaceful! He gave us a quick lay of the land, warned us about poisonwood trees and the leaf-cutter ant trails (which are marked). They have acres of grounds to explore!
We saw fields of heliconia (false ginger), tons of agouti (rodents that look like smaller capybara - very cute!), reptiles, countless birds, and THESE:
Definitely cat! Dogs walk with their claws out; cats walk with them retracted. Looks like a mom and a cub.
After roaming their grounds, we went to the dining hall and bought some beers, then headed to their pool - it's screened in from bugs, and looked brand-new! In better shape than many resort pools in San Pedro!
We went to the dining hall at 6 for dinner (stew chicken), and left at 7 for the Night Tour at the zoo. BZ$250 for up to 5 guests, then BZ$50 for each additional. We lucked out and had a private tour, led by Jeff - he took us around over 90 minutes to meet all of the nocturnal animals, sharing facts and the backstory on each. I cannot recommend this tour enough! We were up close and personal with dozens of animals, and we were able to feed peanuts to a porcupine. Jeff fed raw meat to the big cats to bring them close to us.
One of two Margay, the smallest of the Belizean big cats - housecat size. I want one!* *But they are NOT pets
After the tour, we crashed in our cabin, and slept through breakfast!
We had JC take us to the zoo when it opened Sunday morning, we were the first guests and it was so peaceful.
Check out the monstera that grows up the trees! The leaves were massive, and the vines were easily 50-60' up!
Daytime at the zoo gave us a new perspective, and we saw the daytime critters like spider monkeys, exotic birds, and all of the beautiful flowers. Many of the nocturnal animals were still up and about that early in the morning.
We wanted to do a Jaguar encounter (BZ$10pp), so we signed up for a 10 am feeding. We were going to meet Chiqui, who was rescued from wildfire flooding as a cub a few years back, but she was antsy when we arrived at her habitat. To avoid stressing her out, we met Lindo, a male who was rescued when becoming a nuisance - he was eating garbage, and Jaguars go for 'easy food' when something is wrong with them. Turns out he had glaucoma in 1 eye, making hunting difficult. The zoo removed his eye and took him in, where he now loves life!
Lindo LOVES raw chicken!
You can sponsor any animal at The Belize Zoo - follow that link to help support their care! On this Giving Tuesday if you have someone difficult to shop for who loves animals, what a thoughtful gift!
JC picked us up when we were done at the zoo, dropping us at the water taxi. Skies looked OK when we boarded, and we grabbed some of the last seats upstairs on a packed boat.
15 minutes in, that changed - the skies broke and rain fell HARD.
A tourist family with two young daughters (maybe 4 and 6...?) were in the front - the dad hopped up after a few minutes of rain and although not allowed, he went down the WET METAL STAIRS to seek cover, leaving his wife and daughters upstairs. We think he wanted to take them with, but the other passengers were ready to fight this shitbag dad if he was going to let small girls go down wet, horizontal stairs over a giant, running boat motor. The girls and wife huddled on the deck of the boat - everyone told the girls they were WAY braver than their dad! And us women all agreed - if our man abandoned us over RAIN, it was grounds for immediate divorce!
Some others eventually gave up and went down the ladder as well - 6 of us toughed it out upstairs to Caye Caulker. It cleared briefly, then downpoured again, so we went down and inside for the remainder of the trip.
Even with rough weather, the boat was still very stable and I'm proud to report, no seasickness! So I won't fear the water taxi any longer.
If you'd like to see more details and photos of our stay at the TEC and zoo, here is my Google review: The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center - a must-see!
This is our first mainland trip since 2015, and our first "tourist activity" in our new home - it was absolutely worth it and worth doing again!