The waterfall
A forest pool.
Cephas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cephas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cephas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cephas — CC BY-SA 4.0
The world's first jaguar reserve, founded in 1986, covering about 400 square kilometres of dense tropical forest in a basin ringed by the peaks of the Maya Mountains, including Victoria Peak, one of Belize's highest. The jaguar and Belize's four other wild cats live here, but they are shy and active at night, so visitors see their tracks on the trails more often than the cats themselves. What visitors do see: toucans and parrots, howler monkeys, large blue butterflies and huge trees tangled with vines. The reserve has a network of trails from the visitor centre; the best known is the Ben's Bluff trail to a lookout and a waterfall with a forest pool for swimming, and the Tiger Fern trail to a pair of falls. Visitors also float the South Stann Creek river on tubes. The last stretch of road in is dirt, from the village of Maya Centre, where residents sell crafts. Heat and humidity are high and mosquitoes plentiful, so carry water, repellent and a hat.
A forest pool.
Toucans and parrots.
Tubing.
Near Maya Centre, about 50 minutes from Placencia
Very rarely, as they are shy and nocturnal; you are more likely to see tracks, birds and monkeys.