In addition to a rapidly developing conservation ethic and associated ecological attractions, Belize has many other features to recommend it. Belize is a quiet, peaceful, relatively safe, politically stable, democratically governed, English-speaking place. Small in size, Belize has a correspondingly small population (perhaps, in 1998, 250,000 people, half of whom live in six larger towns, most of which are located along the Caribbean Coast - see Map 1) and hence, a low human population density. In fact, it is the most sparsely-populated nation in Central America. The country's infrastructure (roads, bridges, hospitals, tourist facilities) may, in some regions or instances, leave a bit to be desired, but that is, of course, part of the fun and allure of serious ecotravel. For the most part, Belize is easily and fairly safely navigable - by bus, car, airplane, and boat. Infrastructure is slowly being upgraded, with financial help from the USA's Agency for International Development, the United Kingdom, Canada's International Development Agency, and the European Union (EU). Most of the local people you meet are very friendly and helpful. Importantly, and in contrast to many other Central American countries, most Belizeans seem now to be enjoying a moderately high rate of improvement in their standard of living. Education is compulsory to age 14, and the adult literacy rate is thought to be between 80% and 90%. The government has made good progress in providing electrical service and adequate health care to even fairly remote villages, and sanitation is improving.
The main attractions of Belize to foreign visitors are its tropical rainforests and associated wildlife, its good number of highly accessible yet lightly-visited Mayan ruin sites, and its long barrier reef and associated small, tropical islands. Actually, this small country contains a richly varied set of habitats, many of which will be encountered in your travels (unless the sole purpose of a trip is beach sunbathing and coastal underwater exploration). There is the flat coastal plain along the Caribbean Sea, much of it masses of mangroves and swamps and wet coastal marshland. Flying into Belize City and looking downwards as the airplane descends, you see amazing, glistening colors - pastel greens, blues, oranges - as sunlight reflects off these varied aquatic habitats. Much of this area is accessible only by boat or air. The northern half of Belize has many agricultural districts (sugarcane is the main crop), with much of the wild habitat consisting of tropical palm savanna - a very open, attractive, soothing-looking habitat. The southern half of Belize is divided fairly evenly between coastal low-elevation rainforest (where citrus fruits are increasingly grown in agricultural sections) and inland mountainous areas that include a striking, quite beautiful habitat - tropical pine forest. Most famously, Belize is the site of the Western Hemisphere's longest barrier reef. This tropical coral reef, alive with thousands of kinds of fish and other reef-associated organisms, and the many nearby small, sandy, palm-treed islands (cayes, pronounced keys), increasingly attract divers, snorkellers, reef aficionados, and beach denizens from around the globe.
Owing to its unique history, Belize has a fairly good conservation record. Many parts of the country have had, until recently, little road access and hence, relatively light development and exploitation. (As one USA government publication on Belize puts it, "No roads exist to large tracts of potentially arable land and timber" - which is just fine for conservation and, to a lesser extent, for ecotourism!) Much of the development in colonial times was centered along the coast, with limited inland agriculture and logging. The southern half of the country, encompassing the Maya Mountains and Mountain Pine Ridge areas (Map 2), was too remote and rugged to sustain much development. In addition, there is some historical inheritance from the British colonial system of a conservation ethic - in name if not in actual practice: the British at least established protected forest areas, but they also allowed within those areas extensive consumptive uses such as logging. The Belizeans themselves recognized the need for conservation, and their recognition was reflected in the very first set of laws they enacted upon their independence in 1981: two of the first five laws were environment-related. The end result of first British, then Belizean, rule is that, whereas many other Central American countries have only very small percentages of their forests remaining, between 65% and 70% of Belize is still covered by its native forest.
The high degree of preservation of Belize's forests, coupled with its increasing exposure to the world community by way of visits to the coast and cayes by beachgoers and divers, led to rapid growth in tourism from 1990 through 1994. Tourism slowed a bit and leveled off during the mid-1990s, when Belize acquired an only partly deserved reputation for being a fairly expensive place to travel. (Recently, a value added tax - VAT - has been slapped on many products and services, further raising prices.) Also, owing to a few instances of crimes being committed against tourists, particularly in the Belize City area, the country gained what is probably an unfair reputation as being dangerous. In truth, becasue Belize is a very small country, a few crimes easily become magnified out of proportion.
The present conservation and ecotourism outlook in Belize is this: It's a beautiful spot rich with rewards for adventurous travellers, but it's also a poor, developing coountry, with many of the typical attendant problems. Poverty is widespread and pressure is strong for rapid economic development - in the form of more agriculture, logging, industry; there is substantial and growing pollution resulting from development; and there is the usual corruption that favors poor conservation practices. But recognition of the need for conservation by governmental officials and by other Belizeans is growing. They realize the importance of conservation and the maintenance of pristine areas, as well as the current contributions and future potential such areas have for attracting foreign visitors and foreign investment, thereby providing jobs and helping the economy.
The government of Belize, even with good intentions and actions (a new cabinet-level tourism department, the Ministry of Tourism and the Environment, and the recent passage of major environmental legislation, the Belize Environmental Protection Act of 1992), can do only so much. The problem, of course, is extremely limited money. Even the best environmental laws are of limited value without funds to hire environmental managers, inspectors, enforcement people, and park personnel. The result is that many parks and reserves exist in name only - tracts of land slated to be protected, but, in reality, left open to exploitation - because there is no money available to define the areas and hire on-site wardens or protectors.
Because the government cannot do much conservation management, habitat protection, or ecotourism development by itself, "partnerships" with private agencies that seek the same goals have been developed. Some of these agencies are domestic or international non-profit environmental groups, whereas others are for-profit groups or local community associations. The biggest such "partnership" is probably the one established between the Belize government and the Belize Audubon Society.
The Belize Audubon Society (BAS), formed in 1969, is Belize's pre-eminent environmental organization. Originally led mostly by foreign-born resort owners and managers, it is increasingly directed by native-born Belizeans. Almost from its inception, BAS provided technical advice on conservation matters to the Belize government, even helping to draft the plan for developing the national park system. In 1982, owing to past successful associations, the national government approached BAS with an important, mutually-beneficial offer: to use their highly-motivated conservation expertise to administer, manage, and protect six major national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The government, in effect, turned the job of preservation of some vital parts of wild Belize over to people they trusted to do it right. Since 1984, BAS has operated Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Half Moon Caye Natural Monument, Guanacaste National Park, Blue Hole National Park, and Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve. The deal? From the fees collected at the parks BAS administers, 70% goes to BAS for operations and management, 10% goes to the government, and 20% is placed in a trust fund the proceeds of which are slated eventually to be used for parks and other environmental programs. The BAS role in Belize conservation continues to grow: the Society signed an agreement in 1994 with a Swiss conservation foundation to manage another wildlife refuge, the Shipstern Nature Reserve, in northern Belize. When you travel to Belize, contact the Belize Audubon Society for up-to-date information on the parks they administer (how to visit, where to go, what to see, where to stay, fees, etc.) as well as for other ecotourism information (The Belize Audubon Society, P.O. Box 1001, 12 Fort St., Belize City, Belize; phone: 501-2-35004; fax: 501-2-34985; http://www.belizeaudubon.org; email: base@btl.net).
One of the few acknowledged truths of ecotourism is that, if local people and communities of modest means are to accept and support local conservation measures and new nature reserves, they should be informed and consulted during all phases of the development process. For their continued support, local people should benefit economically from a park, reserve, or ecotourism facility, but local communities should also have a hand in the decision-making concerning the development and maintenance of ecotourism sites. Several ecotourism projects in Belize are at the forefront of this kind of three-way partnership between ecotourism, conservation, and community development. Several examples of such cooperation will be mentioned later in the chapter, in the parks section, and in Chapter 3. However, one pioneering venture deserves special attention: the Community Baboon Sanctuary, near Bermudian Landing. Located just 43 km (27 miles) from Belize City, this sanctuary is located along a 33 km (20 mile) length of the Belize River. The Community Baboon Sanctuary is a cooperative venture of private landowners (many of whom are subsistence farmers), conservationists and their organizations, and biological researchers. Their common aim is, by attracting and charging small fees to environmentally-aware visitors, to preserve extensive forest habitat for a large population of wild primates (the so-called "baboons," actually Black Howler Monkeys, Plate 73) and, coincidentally, for all the other wild animals and plants that inhabit the region.
Dr. Robert Horwich, a biologist from the USA, was instrumental in establishing the sanctuary. He arrived in the area in 1981 to study the howler monkeys, and quickly became aware of the shrinking populations of the species (which is limited to Belize, northern Guatemala, and Mexico's Yucatan region). The obvious cause: continued cutting and burning of the forest habitat in which the monkeys lived. In 1984 Horwich and colleagues approached villagers in the area with the idea of forming a cooperative wildlife sanctuary in which all participants might benefit: the local landowners would agree to preserve their remaining forested lands for the benefit of wildlife and to practice farming methods consistent with habitat preservation in return for help with farming, soil erosion control, healthy water management, and participation in ecotourism. Thus, the local people benefit by learning better farming practices, by helping to preserve wildlife and natural habitats, and, for some, by providing paid services (guided tours, restaurants, bed-and-breakfast-style accommodations) to visitors. The animals benefit because their living space is preserved, and researchers and ecotourists benefit because the animals and habitats are available for study and viewing.
Formally established in 1985 with only 11 landowners participating, the Community Baboon Sanctuary now includes lands owned by more than 100 families and involves about 8 villages along about 32 km (20 miles) of the Belize River. Each participating landowner agrees to follow a customized plan for using their lands. The main agreement is to leave enough bits of forest standing, particularly along waterways and between properties, for howler monkeys and other wildlife to survive and prosper. Trees the animals feed in must be left standing and continuous bands of trees must be left intact so that the monkeys can travel in the trees from one place to another. The efforts are paying off: the sanctuary, which held perhaps 800 howler monkeys at its inception, now has an even larger population (more than 2000 individuals during the mid-1990s) - a population so healthy that monkeys are taken from this area for reintroduction to other parts of Belize - most notably, to the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in southern Belize. Sanctuary plans are eventually to extend its brand of habitat self-preservation to enough land to link the sanctuary with other reserves to the north (Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary) and east.
The Baboon Sanctuary has four goals: conservation, education, research, and tourism. Visitors to the sanctuary, including many local school classes and travelling school groups from other countries, as well as tour groups and independent ecotravellers, are given guided tours during which wildlife and vegetation are pointed out and local culture discussed. A small museum describes local ecological communities and shows off some of the animals and plants found in the sanctuary. Researchers use the site to study the howler monkeys, as well as other species. Volunteers from around the world, living with local families, help to staff the sanctuary and assist the researchers. All-in-all, it's a successful - and by now much imitated - example of how mutually-beneficial partnerships between local communities and conservationists, with the crucial ingredient of ecotourism thrown into the mix, can be established to preserve wildlife and habitats.
I cover only one section of Guatemala, the Peten, the largest province, or departmento, which comprises the northern third of the country, in this book. I have several reasons for including this region of Guatemala with Belize, and for not including more of the country. Belize and the Peten are adjacent (Map 1), and many travellers to one side of the border also visit the other; many travellers to Belize also visit the unmatched Maya site at Tikal, located within the Peten; owing to fairly continuous habitat types along the border, much of the wildlife in Belize and the Peten is the same. Finally, the southern two-thirds of Guatemala, which consists predominantly of mountainous regions and a thin strip of low elevation Pacific coastal plain, is inhabited by a fauna largely different than that found in Belize.
The Peten is a huge, mostly lowland region (there are few sections with elevations greater than 500 to 600 meters, 1600 to 2000 ft) which, owing to several factors, until recently held only a small human population and, as a result, has retained much of its original forest cover. Historically, the reasons include the hot, moist climate and the shortage of surface water over much of the region during the dry season, and the lack of roads. Another, more recent, reason for the intact survival of much of the Peten's forests is that, for many years, this remote region was a favored base for anti-government guerrilla armies. The result of this inadvertent protection is that the Peten's forests, together with adjacent areas of Belize and southern Mexico, comprise the largest unbroken tract of tropical forest north of the Brazilian Amazon. Biologists estimate that the region holds, for example, more than 450 species of birds (about 400 have been seen), at least 60 reptiles, and more than 800 tree species. Unfortunately, current economic and political forces in Guatemala, chiefly the ending of the civil war coupled with great poverty, joblessness, and overcrowding in other regions of the country, have led to a rapid increase in immigration to the Peten; and more people means more pressure for forest-clearing for agriculture and for industrial development. Several international conservation organizations are working together with local communities and with the Guatemalan government to establish and maintain a large Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Peten (on paper, the reserve has existed since 1990; making it a reality is another story). The need is to teach and encourage environment-friendly uses of the region's forests so that significant damage to the great expanse of forest can be slowed and, hopefully, halted.
The Peten is a fantastic region, worthy of extended exploration. But the jewel of the area, and, quite understandably, the most popular destination, is Tikal. Here, stunning Mayan temples and hundreds of other stone buildings and structures rise from the middle of the tropical forest (thousands of other structures are partly or wholly buried, awaiting excavation). Tikal, archaeologists have discovered, was a powerful Mayan city, occupied by large numbers of people for about a thousand years, from at least 200 B.C. to 900 A.D. A few people visited the site during the 1800's and early 1900's but it was reachable only by horseback, and most of the ruins were hidden by jungle. During the early 1950's, an airstrip was built nearby, and so began detailed exploration, excavation by archaeologists, partial restorations and, inevitably, visitation by tourists.
What exists at Tikal now is a large national park, only a small, central portion of which is occupied by the famous major ruins. The site is visited by people from all over the world. It is popular but large, so the tourist density at Tikal on any given day is usually manageable. During many months of the year, the place is still relatively deserted (during a recent September visit, I had the place virtually to myself). There are a few inexpensive restaurants in the entrance area, a few mid-priced hotels hidden amongst the trees, a campground, and a small museum. Strolling along the forest paths, emerging into clearing after clearing of magnificent stone ruins is a great experience, one that many people enjoy over a two- or even three-day period. And walking along the old, abandoned airstrip (which the tropical forest is rapidly reclaiming) in the early morning, birdwatching perhaps, and looking back toward the ruins, and seeing the high temples of the Great Plaza rising out above the misty forest canopy, is one of the truly unforgettable sights of world travel.
From an ecotravel perspective, however, it is not so much Tikal's historical stone structures that matter, but the setting: miles and miles of wide paths and slender trails through beautiful, highly-protected tropical forest. And the site can be fairly said to be teeming with wildlife. About 350 bird species have been seen there, lizards abound along the forest trails and on the rocky ruins themselves, and larger mammals, including Jaguar, Ocelot, tapir, deer, and monkeys galore are frequently spotted. For some reason, animals that are rarely reported elsewhere are commonly seen at Tikal. Mention Tikal to one of the many biologists who have worked there or visited and, almost without exception, a smile will cross a face as he or she relates stories of the wonderful wildlife seen there. On a recent visit, for instance, I was surprised by a veritable herd of White-nosed Coatis, mid-sized raccoon-like mammals, perhaps 75 or 80 of them, moving through the forest only several meters from the trail. Later, in one giant tree adjacent to an ancient temple, I saw perched at the same time several each of three large, colorful species: Keel-billed Toucans, Montezuma's Oropendolas, and Brown Jays. Quite simply, you don't see such fine, abundant wildlife in many other places.
As to specifics of travelling in Guatemela and, in particular, in the Peten, the people are friendly, transportation, most of it by minibus, boat, or airplane, is OK, accommodations are usually OK, and the prices are often a good bit lower than those found across the border in Belize. Getting to major ecotourism sites - Tikal, Ceibal, Uaxactun - is easy enough, whether with a group or alone. Of course, it always helps if you know a bit of Spanish. Yes, there is some crime. For instance, thieves occasionally stop tourist minibuses shuttling between Belize and Tikal. But these incidents are fairly rare; when they do occur, they are often magnified out of proportion. Travelling in the region is fairly safe - perhaps, as one travel book puts it "as safe as downtown Miami" - but perhaps that's not very reassuring. Travelling alone in the area, I've never had any problems.
In general, the conservation and ecotourism situation in the Peten today is this: the region recently emerged from three decades of civil war; it's still a poor area but it has a rich environment with large economic and tourism potential; and the area has both spectacular cultural and ecological attractions. The Guatemalans have a chance to preserve large chunks of their unspoiled habitats, and they have some interest in, and some governmental agencies and organizations charged with, doing so (CONAP, Guatemala's National Council for Protected Areas, operates all national parks and reserves except for the Biotopos; and CECON, the Center for Conservation Studies, which operates the Biotopos, the nature reserves). But, as in most other Central American countries, there is very little money available for active conservation. Parks and reserves have been established throughout Guatemala, but most of them, in relatively inaccessible areas, are parks in name only - lines drawn on maps; there are virtually no funds to survey, manage, and protect the sites. Increasingly, however, international conservation organizations show interest in and shower funds on this part of the world, on what is considered an international ecological treasure. The etablishment of the Maya Biosphere Reserve is the major, multi-faceted effort at preservation of the Peten's wild areas, and increased ecotourism is a major part of the plan.
This is an excerpt from the author's
Belize and Northern
Guatemala: The Ecotravellers' Wildlife Guide, (Academic Press, 1998). Contact the author via
email at ecotravel8@aol.com..
Eco Travels in Belize Exploring Ecotourism in the Americas
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