It’s A Jungle Out There

By Turk Pipkin

(This story first ran in Texas Monthly in November, 1996 under the title "Jungle Fever".)

Deep in the tropical rain forests of Belize, a large snake crossed the road ahead of us and we pulled over for a closer look. “Fer-de-lance,” said Barry Bowen, owner and caretaker of the land we were touring, as he cut a dead limb with his machete, then dragged the reptile back towards us so we could get a better look. I marveled at the snake’s body, crimped like no reptile I’d ever seen, and gazed into its deepset eyes as it crawled towards me, then Bowen casually mentioned that this is one of the most deadly snakes in the world.

I jumped back, alarmed, expecting him to kill the snake. Instead we took pictures and watched as it slithered off the road and disappeared into the tall grass, knowing we might encounter it another day, an eye-opening welcome to the world of Belizean eco-tourism. Before I concluded my visit to the jungles of Belize, I would not only encounter more fer de lances, but also see rare morlet crocodiles on their nesting sites, identify well over one hundred species of birds, and happily trudge countless miles in search of wild tapirs and jaguars who clearly did not wish to be seen.

Some of the most pristine lands and waters of this hemisphere are in the former British Honduras, known since 1981 as the independent nation of Belize. The country’s one hundred and eighty mile Barrier reef—second longest in the world—has long been the main tourist attraction, offering diving, snorkeling, and fishing in sparkling waters filed with coral and tropical fish in all the colors of the rainbow. Making the journey even more convenient, Belize is just a two hour flight from Houston and the country’s official language is English.

In recent years large numbers of visitors have also begun to explore the natural wonders of Belize’s forests and mountains where several new guest lodges play host to growing waves of eco-tourists. My favorite inland destination is Chan Chich Lodge, carefully crafted of local hardwoods in the plaza of an ancient Mayan city, surrounded by ruins and nearly 400,000 acres of magnificent unspoiled jungle.

My trailguide at Chan Chich, a one-time farmer and hunter named Gilberto, began work here building cabanas and trails in in 1987. When the lodge finally opened two years later, he became the first guide. Gilberto has eight kids, speaks English, Spanish and Mayan fluently, and is a walking encyclopedia of jungle knowledge. As we walked quietly down trails on which he works daily to keep back the jungle, Gilberto pointed out huge bromeliads and black orchids growing sixty feet above us in long plumes from a hog plum tree, and I felt the soft cotton-like kapok from the giant saba, a sacred Mayan tree harvested in modern times for kapok pillow stuffing. We tasted the nuts of the cohune palm, pressed by the Mayans and used for cooking oil, but which taste somewhat like dried coconut and can be chewed as a source of clean water. I passed on a demonstration of a plant known as itching leaves, and its remedy, the flowers of the polly red-head which, when crushed, are an effective cure for rashes.

Most impressive of all were the giant strangler figs which start life at the top of another tree high in the jungle’s canopy. The fig seeds, left by monkeys or birds, sprout and send long, dangling roots a hundred feet or more to the ground. Once they tap into ground water, the airborne roots grow to surround the original tree and eventually choke the light and life out of it. By the time the host tree dies, the strangler is a self-supporting, free-standing giant of the jungle.

Dining above us on a single fig tree was an avian variety to make a dedicated birder swoon: a red and green slaty-tailed trogan, a black-faced grosbeak, a pair of little yellow throated euphonia, several tiny red-capped manikins, and that breathtaking breakfast cereal salesbird, the keel-billed toucan. Not only could Gilberto identify all these birds, he could call many of them to us with subtle whistles which I often found indistinguishable from the actual call of the bird.

Named Wilderness Retreat of the Year in 1992 by Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report, Chan Chich lodge is operated by Tom and Josie Harding, an American couple who seem to have no limits on their energy or imagination. Tom supervised the environmentally conscious construction of the cabanas and main building of the lodge, built with sixteen varieties of local hardwoods, all cut and milled on the property. The soaring thatched roof of the main building alone has over 30,000 fronds, all cut from bay leaf palms during a full moon (the rising sap is the key to the fronds’ longevity). Archaelogists have divided opinions about the wisdom of building in a Mayan plaza but it only takes one look at the old looters’ trenches dug into some of the thousand year old pyramids to realize that the lodge’s very presence serves a purpose in preserving these antiquities.

In Mayan Chan Chich means “Little Bird,” and indeed the place is a birder’s paradise with two hundred and sixty known bird species in the area. Rarely seen ocellated turkeys wander casually among the cabanas fanning their tails and announcing their presence with a deep drumming call. In the trees overhead are the long dangling nests of Montezuma’s orependulas, a large bird with a brilliant yellow and black tail and the peculiar habit of turning its head upside down between its legs when making its gurgling calls. Flocks of red lord and white-crowned parrots fly noisily from tree to tree while closer to the ground hummingbirds zip around like flocks of mosquitoes.

Much of this magnificent natural bounty flourishes simply because Belize is a wonderfully unpopulated country with large areas of mostly virgin forest. The land around Chan Chich had long been selectively logged for prime grade mahogany—much of it used to build the classic Chippendale furniture of the 18th and 19th century—but there was no clear cutting or slash-and-burn agriculture. Other than being over-hunted for game, the eco-system was virtually intact when, in 1984, Barry Bowen, a seventh generation Belizean, bought 700,000 acres of mostly virgin timber from the British company Belize Estates and Produce. Bowen eventually kept 130,000 acres of the land and also sold and donated an adjacent 110,000 acres to the Rio Bravo Conservation Area, one of the only overseas projects of the U.S.-based Nature Conservancy. The goal in both of these vast tracts is sustainable management.

With a strict no hunting policy, the diverse animal populations have grown rapidly in the last ten years, from the rabbit-sized spotted paca to howler and spider monkeys. Thereare five types of jungle cats here, from the bantam-weight margay, long-tailed jaguarundi and spotted ocelot, to the puma, capable of making twenty foot leaps, and the largest cat of this hemisphere, the magnificent jaguar.

Chan Chich offers numerous tourist activities ranging from canoeing on a splendid deep blue lake (but hopefully not too near the nesting crocodiles) to horseback riding on some fine thoroughbreds, but the main activity is long, slow walks on the eight miles of carefully maintained trails which let the natural beauty unfold at its own pace right in front of your eyes.

Norman’s Temple Trail is named for the lodge’s bartender, Norman Evanko, who will happily tell you about his discovery of the extensive ruins that bear his name (and who can sometimes be persuaded to keep the bar open late). After a long day of hiking, there is nothing so grand as a fine dinner of coco soup, cucumber salad, roast leg of lamb, fried polenta, cauliflower, and the only lima beans I have ever truly enjoyed (because, I was informed, I’d never had them freshly picked).

One evening, after washing down that feast with a cold gin and tonic, I set out again with Gilberto and four other guests for a night walk into the jungle. Armed with flashlights we had rather up close contact with tarantulas, bats, spider monkeys and a playful little ferret-like animal called a kinkajou which delighted in scratching every inch of its rubbery body on the limbs at the top of the trees. Once again Gilberto’s knowledge was indispensable. He pointed out the red eyes of a wolf spider from one hundred yards away—I stepped it off as we walked up to within inches of the diminutive arachnid. We picked up an amazing click beetle which glows in the dark in the manner of a firefly (except that the click beetle’s greenish-yellow light never turns off and was bright enough for me to read my trail guide). The click beetle larvae is that childhood legend, the glow worm, which looks a little like an illuminated toy train.

Gilberto has augmented his lifelong accumulation of local jungle lore with the careful study of field guides on birds, plants, animals and insects, all sent to him by previous satisfied patrons of the lodge. His goal is to someday become a jungle doctor, treating the sick and injured with traditional remedies.

One occassional surprise of the night walks can be attributed to Gallon Jug’s resident biologists Bruce and Carolyn Miller who have set up an automated photo documentation system of the trails and are studying the impact of tourists on animal movements. Infrared sensors set off the flash cameras when an animal breaks the beam. Judging by the photos on display in the lodge, there is a healthy jaguar population in the area, but getting close enough to see one before it sees you is another story. Though I did not see any jaguars the Millers’s cameras did catch one startled, wide-eyed shot of me as I innocently tripped the camera flash in the darkness.

As with the mountain lions of North America, the jaguar is often blamed by ranchers in Belize for depredations on livestock. Barry Bowen takes a contrary view, claiming the jaguars only hunt domestic animals when their natural food sources are over-hunted or disrupted by clearing of the jungle. Bowen takes particular pride in pointing out a spot where he once saw a full grown jaguar lying peacefully in a field among his cows and calves.

Of his 130,000 acres, Bowen has cleared only 2,200 acres, mostly at Gallon Jug, the headquarters of Bowen’s mini-kingdom known as Gallon Jug Agro-Industries, a research and demonstration project intended to find more efficient ways to use the land. Bowen’s experimental crops include special varieties of citrus, bananas, no-till corn seeding (to prevent excessive evaporation of sub-surface soil moisture), and even an excellent coffee grown under shade cloths.

Bowen has also imported purebred Hereford embryos from England as genetic stock and is developing a new cross breed with the local creotil cattle. His early results show every indication of doubling beef production from the same amount of land, requiring the clearing of half as much forest.

“You can’t have conservation without people on the land,” says Bowen, who owns several other businesses and is the largest private employer in Belize. The two hundred and fifty people that work on the Gallon Jug/Chan Chich property live in the nearby village of Silvester. The local school is mandatory for all children, hygiene and health care are high priorities and no one is permitted to carry or own firearms.

To reach Chan Chich from Texas you fly from Houston into Belize City on Continental (FACT CHECK: Is TACA still flying this route?) I avoided the four hour drive on unpaved roads by catching a ride on a Tropic Air charter to the airstrip at Gallon Jug. Flying over mostly virgin wilderness which reaches almost to the Belize City airport, the one graded road below soon ended and my excitement mounted as I could see only a dense canopy of trees stretching away to the horizon. That sense of excitement never left me during my stay in the interior of Belize.

When you’ve lost count of the birds and animals at Chan Chich, you can always hop a plane on Tropic Air or Javier’s Flying Service for other beautiful destinations in the country. Belizeans, it seems, fly around the country the way we drive to the store for a loaf of bread.

In the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Preserve are the classy back-to-nature Chaa Creek Cabins, lighted by candles and kerosene lamps. Resident chef Bill Altman runs a Belizean-Mexican food cooking school, and there’s a great canoe trip from the cottages down-river to the town of San Ignacio.

The county’s hippest (and perhaps the priciest) destination, complete with pizza oven in the kitchen and a fine view of the Privassion River, is a lodge named Blancaneax which is owned by film-maker Francis Ford Coppola. Blancaneaux, by the way, is named for Barry Bowen’s grandfather, Francois Blancaneaux who in the 19th Century conducted extensive biologic surveys of the area while searching for a reputed cave-dwelling yeti.

At Lighthouse Reef Resort on Northern Two Caye, (pronounced “Key”), you can fly-cast from shore for bonefish, swim with bottlenose dolphins, or dive the “Great Blue Hole,” made famous by Jacques Cousteau. Sailboats can also be chartered and sailed to most of the four hundred and fifty islands which dot the 180 mile long barrier reef that protects the country’s shore with a wall of living coral.

The country’s most popular destination is the town of San Pedro on Ambergris Caye with a long string of sleepy hotels overlooking the clear blue water teeming with tropical fish easily viewed while snorkeling or diving (do not touch the coral). The fishing, not too surprisingly, is also spectacular. Local transportation is mostly by golf cart, and if you don’t mind walking on hot sand, you probably won't even need shoes.

The weekly nighttime highlight in San Pedro is Wednesday night Chicken-drop Bingo at the Pier Lounge, in the Spindrift Hotel. The back courtyard is marked off in a large numbered grid and much of the town turns out to drink, laugh, and place wagers on which squares the chickens will leave a little gift. Now that’s entertainment!

Top of the line accommodations are found at Victoria House, with thatched-roof cabanas and a deep-shaded bar hidden behind a Colonial colonnade with rows of thick cushions to pamper the bottoms of a thirsty crowd swilling the fine Belizean brew—Belikin Beer on tap or in bottles. The regular Belikin packs a seven per cent punch, but my favorite is the thick dark Belikin Stout (which may soon be available in Texas). The Coca-Cola in Belize is also premium, still made the old-fashioned way with cane sugar instead of corn syrup. The owner of both the Coca-cola franchise and Belikin Beer, by the way, is Chan Chich’s Barry Bowen, once again proof of the small size of the country. As Bowen himself told me: “There’s more electricity consumed in the Miami airport than in the entire country of Belize.”

In fact the secret to the continuing survival of the natural beauty of Belize is due in large part to the sparse population of the country. With a population of only 200,000 and limited economic opportunity here, it is estimated that there are now more Belizeans living in the U.S. (most illegally) than there are in all of Belize.

But will this heavenly backwater survive the pressures of the modern world? Belize shares a long border with heavily over-populated Guatemala which has never officially recognized Belize and is constantly in need of more raw jungle to slash and burn. The last of the resident British troops, hangovers from Colonial days, are now pulling out, and due to some rather free-wheeling banking laws, Belize is also not on the best of terms with the U.S.

In the meantime, heroic conservation efforts continue throughout the country. Bruce and Carolyn Miller, on an extended grant from the New York Zoological Society and the Wildlife Conservation Society, have helped to create the 260,000 acre Chiqi Bil National Park, near the Mayan ruins of Caracol in the rain-soaked southern part of the country. The Millers are also working to establish a linked greenbelt conservation area throughout Central America, part of La Ruta Maya, a Mayan Route which would accelerate tourism and cultural and environmental awareness in Belize, Guatemala and southern Mexico.

(FACT CHECK QUESTION: Does La Ruta Maya include any of Honduras?).

Enlisting local support for such a massive conservation plan is not an easy task. Chan Chich’s Tom Harding sums it up nicely: “One of the standard reactions of Central Americans, when North Americans come down and tell them what to do with their own forests is: ‘why should we listen to you when you’ve cut down 85% of your national resources and we’ve still got 85% of ours standing?’ ”

And that is why the solutions to a lasting preservation of this natural beauty are being found hidden in the jungle at places like Chan Chich. In the meantime, Belize is a learning experience open to any adventurous Americans with a few hundred bucks in their pockets. The money you spend provides both incentive and the means to preserve this area for future generations, and that is a bargain not to be missed.

On my last morning at Chan Chich, armed with “A Field Guide to the Birds of Mexico” by Ernest P. Edwards, I set out on a final solo walk of the jungle trails. I watched a Central American river otter play in Chan Chich Creek, identified a red-crowned ant tanager, a green kingfisher, the very beautiful snowy white lauging falcon, and what turned out to be a rare sighting of a slaty-breasted tinamou.

Near the graceful suspension bridge which spans Chan Chich creek, I found a gloriously beautiful ornate hawk eagle sitting on its nest. Having watched warily for snakes every step of my many long walks, I was delighted to see the eagle eating what seemed to be a very large fer-de-lance. It was, I realized immediately, a perfect end to a perfect vacation.

Chan Chich Lodge 800-343-8009

Blancaneaux Lodge 501/92/3878

FAX 501/92-3919

Victoria House 800-247-5159

Lighthouse Reef Resort 800-423-3114

Charter flights on Tropic Air and Javier’s Flying Service can be arranged through any of the lodges.