Ecotourism in Belize: Visit Cockscomb Basin

One of six state-like divisions in the Central American nation of Belize, Stann Creek District is a sparsely-populated area of approximately 25,000 people and covered predominantly by tropical rain forest. In the early nineteen-eighties, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz moved to the area as a recent graduate from the University of Tennessee, eager to study jaguars as a field researcher for the wildlife conservation society. Over a period of two years interacting with the locals and tramping through the thick green forest, Rabinowitz was able to get the area designated as a National Forest Preserve in early December 1984. 128,000 acres now compose the entire preserve, an area of about two hundred square miles.

Today, the Cockscomb Forest Preserve is still located to the south-southwest of Stann Creek's main town, Dangriga. The entrance fee is only ten Belizean dollars, or $5.00 U.S., and may be purchased at the Maya Center Women's Group craft shop. Accommodations and lodgings are fittingly rustic at best, with housing options ranging from a shared cabin with a pit latrine ($8.30 per night) to a cabin with a cold-water shower ($53 per night). Be sure to purchase all of your supplies at Maya Center, including food, before moving on into the park.

Many different types of wildlife can be seen in the area, including all five of Belize's wild cats: the jaguar, jaguarundi, margay, ocelot, and puma are all inhabitants. So is the endangered Baird's Tapir, commonly known as the "mountain cow," alongside 290 other birds. Cockscomb is a phenomenal success story in the long and often startling bleak history of conservation - during Dr. Rabinowitz's stay, scarlet macaws returned to the area, as would howler monkeys, which had not been seen in the area for nearly three decades! The species was originally swept from the area due to a combination of factors, including a yellow fever outbreak in the fifties and a hurricane not long after. However, its recovery is a powerful symbol of the conservation at hand in the reserve.

To get to Cockscomb, you must first travel to Belize. Most international flights arrive in Belize City, though from there, you can take a bus or local airline (such as Maya Tropic) to Dangriga. From Dangriga, take the southbound bus towards Punta Gorda, but disembark in Maya Center. From there it's only a six mile hike or taxi cab ride away to the park visitor center. An alternative route to Belize is through Cancun, Mexico, taking a bus afterward to Chetumal and crossing the border into Corozal or Orange Walk. This route will easily save most travelers one or two hundred bucks!

Ecotourism is a thriving industry in Belize, thanks in part to what happens to be one of Central America's greatest secrets - the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar and Wildlife Preserve in Stann Creek District. A visit to the area will preserve in memories an ecological treasure that is becoming ever-more threatened as the world stampedes into the future.