The humidity in the mountain was super high. Everything felt damp. On top, it rained very hard last night. The resulting cool temperatures really soothed our sleep though. We woke up at 6 am and quickly got ready to go outside to do more bird watching. Although we have seen many beautiful birds on this trip so far, one bird still eluded us - the keel-billed toucan which is also the national bird of Belize. Just as we entered the bird watching deck in the restaurant, we were told the bird watching guide had sighted a keel-billed toucan with a scope! We looked carefully and there it was, a beautiful keel-billed toucan standing on a barren tree up on top of the mountain across the river. There were actually two toucans standing there, one on each side of the tree. What an awesome sight to spot both of them calling out to each other! This is the first time we saw keel-billed toucans in the wild. Then, after breakfast and packing, just as we were ready to depart, there was another commotion and excitement because the staff had spotted a red capped manakin in the garden. This bird is so striking with its red head.
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| Birdwatching |
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| Keel-billed Toucan in the wild! |
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| Close up in the zoo |
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| Red-capped Manakin |
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| Close up look if my camera is as big as others |
We drove to our next stop at the Belize Zoo. This is a well-run zoo. Only animals that can be found in Belize and its surroundings are exhibited to encourage conservation. Many of the animals were either orphans, injured/rescued, or born in captivity. From the zoo, we drove to Belize City to return our rental car and checked into Radisson Fort George Hotel. We were told Belize City is not safe to walk after dark so we did our walk about first and returned to the hotel restaurant for dinner. As expected, we got upgraded to an ocean view suite. This hotel is quite historic and is considered the best hotel in the city. It's 70 years old and survived the great hurricane Hattie back in 1961. We found the tourist zone where our hotel was located was quite deserted. It looked like this area only comes to life when cruise ship calls to port. The walk around the waterfront is very scenic, especially with the sunset.
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| Our hotel Radisson Fort George Hotel and Marina |
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| View from our suite |
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| Clock Tower |
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| Free Postcard! |
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| Belize City Waterfront |
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| Waterfront view of Belize City |
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| Sunset at Lighthouse Fort George |
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| Sunset at Lighthouse Fort George |
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| Sunset at Belize City |
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| Romantic Belize! |
I'm surprised to hear that Belize City is not safe to walk at night ... for a small tourist city.
ReplyDeleteThat is part of the Central America gang crime wave. Belize, being so close to Mexico and Guatemala, is not immune.
ReplyDeleteWe were told by our hotel not to be out on the street after 5:30 pm, after the sun is set!
ReplyDelete