Belize Zoo

Belize Zoo Review

Turn a sharp corner on the jungle trail, and suddenly you're face-to-face with a jaguar, the largest cat in the Western Hemisphere. The big cat growls a deep rumbling threat. You jump back, thankful that a strong but inconspicuous fence separates you and the jaguar.

One of the smallest, but arguably one of the best, zoos in the Americas, the Belize Zoo packs a lot into 29 acres. Containing more than 125 native species, the zoo has self-guided tours through several Belizean ecosystems—rain forest, lagoons, and riverine forest. Along with the spotted jaguar (the zoo's rare black jaguar died of natural causes in late 2008), you'll see the country's four other wild cats: the puma, margay, ocelot, and jaguarundi. Perhaps the zoo's most famous resident is April, a Baird's tapir that is more than a quarter-century old. This relative of the horse and rhino is known to locals as the mountain cow, and is also Belize's national animal. At the zoo you can also see jabiru storks, a harpy eagle, scarlet macaws, howler monkeys, crocodiles, and many snakes, including the fer-de-lance.

The zoo owes its existence to the dedication and drive of one gutsy woman, Sharon Matola. An American who came to Belize as part of a film crew, Matola stayed on to care for some of the semi-tame animals used in the production. She opened the zoo in 1983, and in 1991 it moved to its present location. She's also an active environmentalist. "The Zoo Lady" and her crusade against the Chalillo Dam is the subject of the 2008 book The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight To Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird by Outside magazine writer Bruce Barcott.

If you're going to the zoo on a day when there are several cruise ships in port in Belize City, try to get to there early, when the zoo opens at 8. Crowds from cruise-ships tours don't arrive until about 9:30 or 10. Besides touring the zoo, you can also hike or canoe through the nearby 84-acre Tropical Education Center, also called the Belize Zoo Jungle Lodge. Dormitory accommodations, with outdoor toilets, are available at the center for BZ$61 per person, and spiffier cabins go for BZ$132-BZ$143 double occupancy, all including breakfast, dinner, and taxes. Cameron Diaz and the late Steve Erwin have stayed here. Overnighters can take a nocturnal zoo tour for BZ$30 (minimum four persons). For Tropical Education Center accommodations, call in advance, and be aware that the lodging area is a long hike from the zoo.