Jungle adventures in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Belize). Relaxing on the beaches of Placencia.

Travelogue Belize 2002
Cockscomb ­Basin ­Wildlife ­Sanctuary – ­Placencia

Then bus again, another bus, a gringo rip off taxi and I reached Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the only jaguar reserve in the world. Jungle all around, lots of sounds (the only real relaxing kind of noise), many tours through the jungle, and swimming under waterfalls. I did not see there as many (bigger) animals as in Tikal but it was brilliant. Lots of different birds, a little grey fox, a possum, a tarantula, big as a CD, frogs, toads (a word I learned reading Harry Potter), something up in the trees we were not sure whether it was a cat or a racoon … I spent a lot of time in my hammock, reading, listening and (more or less) unsuccessfully searching the green for animals.

interior of a log cabin, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize
The room I was sleeping in. It is for six persons but I was alone. Of course the mosquito net is not included.
Volker in his hammock at Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize
me in my hammock at a lonely lake
Volker's view of the jungle from his hammock at Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize
and my view of the jungle
a little lake with a waterfall at Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize
This lake was even more beautiful and lonesome than the first one.
view over the jungle at Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize
view over the jungle

After three nights I had eaten all my food (no restaurant or shop there) and I had enough and you never can avoid that the insects bite you. So bus again to Mango Creek. Almost I would have had to wait a long time for the first time in this journey because the boat was going to leave three and a half hours later but right in this second two tourists in a car stopped and asked whether they could take me to Placencia. Placencia is a village at the end of a 20 miles long and sometimes only 200 meters wide peninsula. Life is hard here, once again I had nobody to rock me in my hammock and I even have to search and open my coco nuts myself. I don’t think that I am going to stand this for a long time. Tomorrow I am going to take a unique chance: Full moon hasn’t been a long time ago and these are the last two days that you can go out and snorkel with whale sharks, the biggest fish on earth, up to 60 ft long. They will return for full moon in June and then next year again. I hope we will meet them and the chances are very good. Please wish me luck, I am sure you want to get an exciting report, sorry that most of the English speaking readers of this mail won’t be able to see the slides …

Love and all the best,

Volker
Placencia, Belize, CA

pineapple plant, Belize
And now for something completely different: I thought that pineapples grow on trees …
fruits of the cashew tree
And who of you can tell what these are? You all know it, they’re cashew nuts. The nut is in the little thing at the bottom of the fruit. You can’t eat them like that, they have to get roasted.

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