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We left Placencia in our trusty SUV around noon today. We drove for 80 miles and it took us about 2 1/2 hours to get to Caves Branch. It was raining in Placencia, the first time that it rained during the day since we arrived in Belize. Even though it is rainy season in Belize it had not rained since we arrived. We had been blessed with clear skies and sunny weather for all of our whale shark diving. It seemed right that it was now raining since we were leaving the Belize sea coast and driving into the Belize rainforest. It was a beautiful drive. We did not take the dusty, dirt and gravel coast road. Now we were driving on a nice paved highway, called the Hummingbird Highway. (We didn't see any hummingbirds along the highway.) As we drove the highway went from flat and straight to hilly and winding. We saw the landscape change from the flat, sandy coastal area to the steep, hills of the inland rainforest area. We are excited about returning to Ian Anderson's Jungle Lodge because we had visited during our From the Jungle to the Sea Expedition in 2001 and had a fun time there exploring the rainforest and mysterious and spooky underground caves. To get to Ian Anderson's Jungle Lodge we turned off the main, paved highway onto a narrow, bumpy, dirt and gravel road that went into the rainforest. The trees and hanging vines surround this narrow road on both sides and the top! The road was like a tunnel through the rainforest! At the end of this road we stopped among some other cars and someone greeted us to help take our bags up a long, narrow gravel trail to the main lodge. We crossed a stone bridge over the upper pool stream to check in at the main lodge, which is also the dining room. The Caves Branch River runs in front of the main building and the pool. But it is completely dry. As soon as the rainy season starts there will be water in the river. After getting our bags into our cabin in the rainforest, we walked along the path along the river and we met a Belizean man who works here at the Jungle Lodge. He is in charge of the landscaping. The plants look very jungle-y but he keeps them all in control so that the property doesn't become overgrown with plants. He also has a greenhouse where he grows dozens of different kinds of plants. His favorite plant is the orchid. He showed us several of his beautiful orchids. And, there is a bird's nest in the greenhouse with a baby bird in it! He said it hatched 3 days ago. We will very carefully check on it every day while we are here to see how fast it grows! After we finished exploring the greenhouse, we walked a little further along the path. Then something started making a huge racket. It sounded like some very upset donkeys! Then we looked up into the trees and saw four howler monkeys! One was a baby! It amazed us that creatures that small can make that much noise! One of the staff told us that they were making a lot of noise because they think the feel the rain coming. He said that the monkeys are traveling through the high tops of the trees in search of water. They will have to keep going. There is no water in the Caves Branch River, at least not this section of it right now. At dinnertime, in the main building, we met Abel. He is in charge of all the adventures. We talked to him about his plans for us tomorrow: The Waterfall Cave Expedition! The waterfalls are hundreds of feet underground in a cave! It's going to be quite a wet and muddy adventure! We know that we are in a wild rainforest, not just because of the monkeys, but Abel told us that we need to use flash lights to walk along the trail back to our cabin because we need to look out for deadly snakes called the fer-de-lance that have been seen crawling across the trails at night! Wayne & Karen Brown |
TODAY'S DATA Caves Branch, Belize Position: 17º 10' N / 88º 41' W We are in the Belize rainforest!
Ian Anderson's Caves Branch Adventure Company and Jungle Lodge
Wayne photographs some of the strange and beautiful plants in the greenhouse.
A baby bird just hatched in a nest that a bird made in one of the plants growing in the greenhouse.
The Belize National Flower -
One of the howler monkeys we found screaming in the trees over our heads.
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Day 11
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