Chan Chich and: Belcampo OR Lamanai Outpost?
 

Heading to Belize for 7 nights - primary goal is wildlife photography at nice low-key nature resorts ( Bosque del Cabo in Costa Rica as the ultimate). Will be a father-son trip with my 12 year old, who is a serious birder for his age, so we are looking for good birding locations, he doesn't need standard kids activities.

Chan Chich for 4 nights is confirmed, the other 3 nights are up in the air. Have mostly narrowed it to Lamanai Outpost Lodge or Belcampo. Price isn't the primary concern. Please help me decide. Mostly interested in views from people that have actually been to Belcampo (formerly Machaca Hill), as those opinions are harder to find.

As I see it:

Lamanai:
Pros: easier transfers to Chan Chich, access to Mayan ruins, well known for nature activities
Cons: more popular / tourist oriented, loud fan boats, perhaps too close to Chan Chich in terms of wildlife overlap?

Belcampo:
Pros: change of pace (access to ocean / snorkeling), more quiet, varied habitat (being South in Toledo), facilities look nicer
Cons: higher expense (rooms / charters), somewhat unknown experience (not reviewed much from this perspective)

I would love YOUR thoughts and help. THANKS!

Not that much overlap with Lamanai Outpost Lodge and Chan Chich--the latter is a deep jungle place, the former is less deep jungle and more lagoon setting--so you get all kinds of aquatic birds (Agami, Jabiru, etc).

Loud fan boat really isn't an issue unless you go on the tour with it. Otherwise we didn't notice it while there.

In terms of being more popular/tourist oriented, not sure what you mean by that. It's a very intimate place with attentive service.

Also, the boat ride in is fantastic for birding and wildlife observation--we saw 30+ species on the way in, and got within 4 feet of a really large male Morelet's crocodile.

Belcampo certainly looks more modern and resort-like. But we certainly didn't feel like we were roughing it at Lamanai.

I love both CC and LOL. I'm not sure LOL is still operating the boats, email and ask them.. Its a gorgeous view overlooking the expansive lagoon and right next to the site, which is pretty incredible. I have not booked anyone at Belcampo since they changed owners/mgmt, so can not address how it is currently or worth the rates, but it is a lovely lodge and used to have incredible sesrvice and the rooms have a/c

I haven't been to Belcampo but CC and LOL have different habitats so I wouldn't say it's too much overlap in terms of wildlife. I also didn't find it to be more popular/tourist oriented than CC. You might see other tourists at the Lamanai site if this is what you mean. We picked a non-cruise ship day to tour the site and there was only one other small group. I didn't find fan boat noise to be an issue either. Take an early morning canoe paddle across the lagoon and up Dawson Creek, good bird viewing and so peaceful :) You can do this guided or unguided. We went on our own and let them know the night before so they had our canoe ready nice and early.

I'm interested in comments about Belcampo as well including the wildlife viewing there.

I was at LOL in June for 5 days. It is not what I would consider touristy. The guides are excellent and have very good quality spotting scopes for birding.

I woke up one morning to a deck full of howler monkeys and they provided surround sound during my final night.

Especially nice is climbing The High Temple at Lamanai and being above the trees looking down on the howlers.

An interesting area for birding is near LOL's landing strip. There is a small pond there and the open space is quite different from the dense jungle providing another way to look at the wildlife.

The lodge offers a night walk which is really neat as you look for insects, snakes and whatever else is moving at night.There is a lot of action to be seen at night. This would be very unique experience for your son.

Enjoy your trip and let us know how it turns out.

Thanks all for your quick and thoughtful replies. You are easing my mind about LOL.

I didn't mean to offend anyone by the word "touristy". I am clearly a tourist too (as we all are who post here) :) I think it was just the look and feel of the website and activity descriptions, and a couple youtube videos I saw.

I am very close to confirming at LOL and Chan Chich.

Any thoughts on Belcampo?

DesertBum,
Thanks for suggesting the landing strip as a different birding option - how far is that from the actual lodge? Walking distance?
We’ll be at LOL in February, so this is great info. Any other info/tips you could share?

Yes the landing strip is walking distance. We did this on one of our walks. What did you end up with for an itinerary, xyz99?

I stayed at Belcampo when it was Machaca Hill. Wilfred was a great birding guide, not sure if he's still there. A bit of a character but he knows his birds (and food!). I can't remember the number of species we saw (about 100?), but we visited a variety of habitats while searching, and this was not a birding trip.

I enjoyed my stay there. I like to be busy and Wilfred managed to pull it off with a variety of activities from hikes to picnics to boat rides. All the staff were warm and for the most part easy going.

I was on an all inclusive package which is my preferred style, but they don't seem to offer that option anymore.

Birds that stand out in my memory;
Treecreepers
Motmots
Manakins
Grassquits
Squirrel Cuckoos
Toucans
Aracaris
Trogons
Hawks
Kingfishers
Frigate Birds
Kiskadees
Egrets
Orioles
Swallows

You can see a ton from the dining area if you're patient. It was difficult to eat and keep an eye on all that was going on in the treetops.

Patty,
We will stay 3 nights at LOL, 3 nights at Table Rock in Cayo, 6 nights at Pelican Beach on South Water Caye (snorkeling), and last 3 nights at Victoria House on Ambergris.
All is booked, except the domestic flights in Belize – can’t wait!

Sounds fantastic, have a great trip, xyz99!

Femi,
As far as mammals, what did you see at Belcampo/Machaca?

Not many mammals, just coatis, howler monkeys and bats- rows of little bats lined up on a tree trunk overhanging the river, all fast asleep.

The trees can make it difficult to spot mammals. Once we were out on a hike and were scanning for birds. It was only after several minutes that the guide became aware that there had been a howler monkey silently watching us the whole time, about twenty feet directly overhead.

I think we may have seen more if we had gone on night drives/walks. A couple of nights I heard something big and heavy rooting around under my cabin, but I never saw what it was. From my description one of the guys thought it may have been tapir as he believes they still live in the hills.

The land surrounding the lodge i.e. outside the reserve, is heavily farmed both with crops and cattle. This also decreases the chance of spotting any wildlife.

One of the gardners spotted a fer-de-lance which was killed because they were concerned the guests might stumble upon it. One night there were several pairs of mating toads around the pool. The security guard couldn't understand why were so excited by such a common occurence.

Forgot to mention the hummingbird tree. There was a tree with white blossoms that the hummingbirds were crazy about. We counted several members of seven different species all in that tree.

<i>It was only after several minutes that the guide became aware that there had been a howler monkey silently watching us the whole time, about twenty feet directly overhead.</i>

I love moments like that.

I really enjoyed the night walks/drives/boat rides at LOL and CC. They were very productive.

Thanks, Femi!

Bookmarking because I'm interested in these areas too!

For people who have been to LOL, is that similar to a Tortuguero/Cano Negro environment, and Chan Chich sort of similar to a BdC? Do you think we could see toucans at both spots? How many days would you stay in each place? Any fun tours other than hiking the grounds?

The boat ride in is definitely like Cano Negro, but better I would say. Wide variety of yours--night boat tours, sunset cocktail cruise on pontoon, canoeing, the Mayan ruins of course.

Yes there are toucans at both locations. We stayed 3 nights each but could've stayed longer at either. At CC we did a night drive. Farm tours, horse riding and biking were also available as well as visits to other Mayan sites nearby. At LOL you can visit the archaeological site, canoe and go on boat rides.

Both offer excellent birding ops

Thanks, guys, can someone remind me how long it would take to go between the two? What would be the best way to do that?

2 hours by road. Either LOL or CC could arrange it. We booked and paid for the road transfer through LOL but it was actually a CC vehicle that picked us up.

Wow, that's it? That's not bad at all. I was thinking that LOL was only accessible by water for some reason. Would that include the water portion of the trip?

You would only go by water if you were traveling from Belize City to LOL. The route is one hour by road from Belize City to Orange Walk where you board a boat for an approx 1.5 hour ride along the New River. From LOL to CC, you are continuing inland (no backtracking toward Orange Walk or Belize City) as CC is near the border with Guatemala and the route is all by road (I assume you could charter a plane also if you wanted) and it goes through Blue Creek Village and the Rio Bravo Conservation area before reaching Gallon Jug where CC is located.

And if you went all the way from Belize City to CC, it would take 4 hours by road. They also have an all day transfer option that includes a boat ride and stops at the Lamanai ruins mid-day on the way to CC if you decide to only stay at CC.

But LOL and CC makes a great combination and you'll encounter some variance in wildlife so I would stay at both if you can.

Went to CC two years after visiting BDC with our kids. Couple of personal observations:
- CC a bit more luxurious with excellent food and accommodations. Lot of birds, some non-excavated ruins/mounds right on site, we saw a Jaguarundi when walking one day – pretty exciting. While a large variety of birds, not being birders maybe less impressive to us than the Macaws we saw every day at BDC. At CC Ocellated turkeys roam the grounds everywhere we looked.
- BDC has the seemingly ever present monkeys (four kinds) and seemingly more extensive hiking trails. Also the ocean views and beaches on each side you could hike to. We saw spider and howler monkeys at CC, but only on occasion.
We flew in and out of Gallon Jug to CC so can’t comment on transport.

We saw at least a dozen toucans while we were at Chan Chich in January. Such beautiful birds!

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the help. Both places look fantastic.

Just a note on the birds we saw at LOL--we saw multiple toucans etc on the property grounds, but the back trail to the Lamanai ruins and the ruins themselves are goldmines for birds. Trogons, trogons, trogons plus hook-billed kites and red-capped manakins near or on the ruins themselves.

On the nighttime spotlight safari, we saw the potoo and an agami heron.

On the drive back to BZE we saw jabiru--the driver knows where a nest is, and apparently they only show it to guests on the way back, trying to keep it a secret so they don't get disturbed.

Forgot to add (when will they add an "edit" button?):

Notable birds on the boatride to the LOL included black-collared hawk, roseate spoonbill. Plus we got within 4 feet of the biggest Morelet's crocodile I've ever seen.

Got a great view of a blue-crowned motmot on the ruins grounds.