Yellow-tailed Oriole
18-28 February 2012 – 11 days/9 nights
Tour Prices
We’ve kept the price of this tour as low as possible while still offering an outstanding experience. We’ll eat great food, stay in comfortable surroundings and have a memorable time.
* Compare our prices and itinerary with the WINGS 7 night/8 day tour, which is $3,900 per person.
Double Occupancy: $3210 per person.
Single supplement: $50 per day. Total single price: $3760. Sharing can be arranged if possible.
Upgrade: whilst at duPlooy’s (6 nights), couples can stay in a Jungle Lodge Room instead of the Belize River House. Add $400 per person. Total price: $3610 per person.
What’s Included?
Everything apart from your flights to and from Belize, bar drinks, border fees, and any additional gifts or items you choose to buy. We’ll pick you up at Belize City airport, look after you the whole time, and drop you back at the airport at the end. So that’s…
- All accommodation
- All meals
- All local and state taxes
- All service charges
- All transportation, including comfortable air-conditioned tour bus, boat trips and interior flights
- All entrance fees
- All expert guides, including Fun Birding Tours guide (Richard Fray), Belizean birding guide and local archaeological guides
You are covered by liability and vehicle insurance, but we strongly recommend you obtain your own travel insurance policy for any trip overseas, in case of medical or other emergencies.
Itinerary
Here’s the itinerary for our exciting 11 day/10 night Belize Birding Tour in February 2012. For a shorter option, take a look at the itinerary for 9 days/8 nights.
Day 1 – Saturday 18 Feb 2012
You’ll be met at Belize City airport whenever you arrive. Most flights from the US arrive in the afternoon, but if you arrive earlier or you’re already in Belize, we’ll begin birding around the airport at 9:00 a.m. Once everyone has arrived, we’ll head inland and bird our way to duPlooy’s Jungle Lodge, with a stop at the Belize Zoo if time permits.
Day 2 - Sunday 19 Feb 2012
Early morning birding at duPlooy’s, and your first experience of the famous fruit table! Enjoy coffee or tea at the bar whilst Collared Aracari, Blue-crowned Motmot, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Yellow-winged and Blue-gray Tanagers, Plain Chachalaca and many more birds feast a few feet away at first light. After starting the day the right way, we’ll bird the duPlooy’s property and adjacent Belize Botanic Gardens where there’s a variety of habitat to support field, forest, river and pond birds. Relax a bit and enjoy lunch on the duPlooy’s deck.
Black-headed Trogon (left) and Rose-throated Becard
After lunch, we bird as we drive the six miles to Xunantunich to explore the Mayan ruins and look for more forest species. We cross the Mopan River on a hand-cranked cable-drawn ferry, giving us a uniquely Belizean experience as well as a chance to see river birds and huge iguanas. Pronounced Shoo-nan-too-nich, this is a fabulous Mayan ruin which also offers great forest birding with species such as White-whiskered Puffbird, Bright-rumped Atilla and several parrots to look out for.
White-whiskered Puffbird (left) and Xunantunich
Day 3 - Monday 20 Feb 2012
All day trip to Mountain Pine Ridge, an area of pine forest growing back after being devastated by an inasive beetle in the 1980s. The scenery is dramatic and the habitat is home to woodpeckers, Rusty Sparrow, Rufous-capped Warbler and even the occasional Crested Guan. We’ll visit Thousand Feet Falls, where we hope to see the rare Orange-breasted Falcon, and then on to Caracol, Belize’s flagship Mayan ruin site with superb forest birding. King Vulture, eagles, hawks, hummingbirds, a host of forest birds, coatis and howler monkeys are all possible, to name but a few. The archaeology is very impressive. On the way back we’ll bird the Rio On Pools and maybe cool off in the lovely cascading water.
There's great birding at the Caracol Mayan site
Rufous-capped Warbler (left) and Orange-breasted Falcon
Yellow-olive Flycatcher (left) and Rusty Sparrow
Yucatan Black Howler Monkey (left) and the Caana at Caracol
Caracol
Day 4 - Tuesday 21 Feb 2012
This morning we’ll head for El Pilar, right on the Guatemala border. This is an intriguing Mayan city which is currently being excavated. We may get to see archaeologists at work. It’s a great birding site and we should see parrots, manikins and much more.
Rufous-tailed Jacamar (left) and Red-capped Manakin
White-crowned Parrot (left) and Emerald Toucanet
We’ll spend the late afternoon birding at the charming and birdy Cahal Pech Mayan site, a quiet ruin site which is especially good for several hard-to-see species.
Cahal Pech Mayan Site
Day 5 - Wednesday 22 Feb 2012
Tikal
After an early breakfast we’ll bird our way over the border and into Guatemala. Our destination is the most famous of all the Mayan sites, Tikal.
We’ll spend the afternoon wandering through this impressive historical site, marvelling at the temples but also the incredible variety of wildlife living within the protected haven of Tikal’s boundaries. Ocellated Turkey, Orange-breasted Falcon, Lovely Cotinga and the recently reintroduced Harpy Eagle, the largest and most powerful raptor in the Americas, are all possibilities. Snakes, spider monkeys, coatis… it’s a classic!
As well as our Belizean birding guide we will be accompanied by an archaeological guide from Guatemala who will tell us about the history and culture of the Mayan civilization that once inhabited Tikal. We’ll spend the night near the site.
Day 6 – Thursday 23 Feb 2012
For those willing and able, we’ll get up early for a classic sunrise atop the tallest temple. We’ll have more world-class birding and a further chance to explore the ancient Mayan city before heading back to duPlooy’s in the afternoon, having had a memorable experience in Guatemala.
The rainforest around Tikal offers world-class birding
Harpy Eagle (© Panama Guide)
Ocellated Turkey
Yellow-winged Tanager (left) and Blue-crowned Motmot
Day 7 - Friday 24 Feb 2012
This is your free day: take advantage of the birding that duPlooy’s has to offer, bird the river walk, explore the Belize Botanic Gardens, hang out in the bird hide overlooking the Inland Lagoon. Or maybe canoe upstream and float back, ride a horse, visit a cave, butterfly farm, medicine trail or other local attraction, get close-up wildlife photos from the deck, lie in your hammock and listen to the sound of the jungle… Our suggestion is to join us by grabbing a canoe and heading downstream to the town of San Ignacio, looking for giant resting iguanas, birds of the jungle plus kingfishers, herons, cormorants and maybe even a Sungrebe on the water, then returning for a relaxing afternoon at duPlooy’s (possibly at the bar!) All duPlooy’s activities are included so you may choose what you wish and have a fun day! Birding guides will be divided among the most popular activities.
- Birding by canoe on the Macal River
- Keel-billed Toucan (left) and the Fire Tower at Belize Botanic Garden
* Whilst at duPlooy’s there will be night walks available some nights. There are owls and nightjars out there, as well as mammals, insects, frogs, etc.
- Kinkajou (left) and Northern Potoo
Day 8 - Saturday 25 Feb 2012
We’ll bid a fond farewell to duPlooy’s and bird our way back west. Our destination is the famous Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, an amazing seasonal system of rivers, channels and pools which attracts a huge number of water birds. We’ll bird Crooked Tree in the afternoon, trying to find iconic species such as Jabiru Stork, and settle in at the Birds Eye View Lodge, overlooking the main lagoon. After dark we’ll take a special boat trip looking for nocturnal species such as Boat-billed Heron and the much sought Agami Heron.
Bird's Eye Lodge at Crooked Tree (left) and Gray-necked Wood-Rail
Day 9 - Sunday 26 Feb 2012
After a late night and in preparation for our onward journey, we’ll enjoy a leisurely Belizean breakfast at the lodge, after which we’ll explore the area in the easiest and most productive way possible, by boat. We’ll look for raptors including Black-collared Hawk, Laughing Falcon, Bat Falcon and Osprey, as well as the plentiful herons, egrets and other water birds that abound at Crooked Tree. Depending on water levels, the rare and iconic Sungrebe is a possibility.
Black-collared Hawk (left) and Tricolored Heron
We’ll have lunch at Birds Eye View Lodge and head back to Belize City airport for our flight to Caye Caulker. We’ll have time for a little exploration before watching the sun set over the ocean.
Day 10 – Monday 27 Feb 2012
We’ll enjoy birding and beach culture on this tiny tropical island, as well as truly great snorkeling on the Belize Barrier Reef, one the largest coral reef systems in the world. We’ll even take a boat trip to look for manatees!
Manatee (left) and Caye Caulker
Day 11 – Tuesday 28 Feb 2012
We’ll make the most of our final morning in Belize with some early morning birding covering mangrove, forest, shoreline and open ocean. We’ll look for Black Catbird, White-crowned Pigeon, Rufous-necked Wood-Rail and a variety of shorebirds and seabirds. We’ll fly back to Belize City in time for you to catch your connecting flights home.
Looking for a shorter tour? Click here for the 9 day / 8 night Belize Birding Tours.
