Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary

USA

Texas Motor Speedway

Fort Worth Zoo
GUATEMALA

Tikal (Mayan ruins)
BELIZE
Ambergris Caye

San Pedro Town

Fishing

Snorkeling
Crooked Tree

Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctaury

Lamanai (Mayan ruins)

New River boat trip
Sarteneja

Shipstern Wildlife Reserve
Bermudian Landing

Howler Monkey Lodge

Belize River canoe trip

Community Baboon Sanctuary

Hill Bank Station

Belize Zoo

Cave Tubing

Zip-Lining
San Ignacio

Macal River canoe trip

Rio On Pools

Caracol (Mayan ruins)

Arriving back in Belize we walked across the airport parking lot and picked up our rental 4WD from Budget Rental Car and was quickly on our way. We were at Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary in the early afternoon. After checking in to Bird’s Eye View Lodge we drove down the road to the John Jax Boardwalk.

This was a nice little walk and just the ticket for spending the remainder of a travel day unwinding and just kind of vegging out and enjoying the nature on the trail. The trail is well marked with lots of informative signs describing the plants and birds that we saw.

http://www.birdseyeviewbelize.com
Bird’s Eye View Lodge is a birder’s paradise. It appeared to us to be the best place to stay in the whole sanctuary. Located right on the shore of the Northern Lagoon it offers a commanding view of the shoreline and everything in the water

Steph-fan-ie, Nat-ah-lie, and, Pam-U-la

The ladies working in the lodge know how to cook! Not only that they are a real hoot. Natalie was our favorite. She spoke in an unusual accent where she pronounced everything very precisely – Nat-ah-lie, her daughter, Pam-U-la, and her friend, Steph-fan-ie. She was a lady with a quick friendly smile and her laugh made us laugh. She went through all of the motions of laughing but no sound came out. Nat-ah-lie was a treasure that we found on this trip. Oh and did I mention she knows how to cook.

View from the lagoon looking back at the aptly named Bird’s Eye View Lodge.

The lodge has nice clean comfortable rooms. The only flaw was the reverberating sounds echoing down the hallway. This wasn’t really a problem for us since we were the only people staying in that section of the lodge. No matter what it’s still the best place to stay in the sanctuary.

The next morning we drove north towards Orange Walk and just as we crossed the toll bridge over the New River we stopped at Reyes and Sons and caught a tour boat down the New River to the Mayan ruins of Lamanai. This was a pleasant boat ride of about an hour seeing a few crocodiles, lots of birds, iguanas, turtles, and beautiful scenery.

Video 1 - 1.87MB med res video clip of riding in boat on the New River

This was my first visit to the Mayan ruins of Lamanai “Sunken Crocodile” It’s not the biggest Mayan site I’ve been to nor the best but I and very happy that we took the time to see it. Each Mayan sites has it’s own special feature or “feeling.” Lamanai was no exception. While it’s not large it is beautiful and the howler monkeys were abundant and easy to see. If you are in the area this really worth seeing.

On our way back to the lodge we saw literally miles of trucks filled with sugarcane parked along the roadside waiting to deliver their loads.

Our final morning at Bird’s Eye View Lodge we woke early to catch the 6:00 AM tour boat for bird watching around the lagoon. We were at first horrified when we awoke and saw a large bus full of people arriving just before our tour started. Thinking, “Oh my Lord, this is going to be a zoo!” Thankfully they were from a lodge close by and we had a tour boat with just 4 of us from the lodge. Getting up at 5:00 wasn’t easy but it was well worth the effort. This was the season for the rare Jabiru Stork they were very abundant at this time of the year. These are large birds with up to a 12 foot wing span. They are definitely capable of delivering twins. We also saw spoonbills, 5 different kinds of kingfisher, a few crocodiles and a bazillion other birds. The other people on our tour was a couple from Germany. They came all this way just to say at Bird’s Eye View Lodge. They were very happy campers

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Last Revised: December 15, 2007