Geoffroy's spider monkeys are a lot more visible, hanging off cypress branches along the New River, trying to grab snacks out of your hands as you travel upstream en route to the Mayan marvels at Lamanai roaming around Chan Chich Mayan ruins and the eco lodges nearby.
One creature you don’t really want to grab food out of your hand on Belize’s rivers, however, is the crocodile. Ancient creatures, they were worshipped by many of the Mayan communities centuries ago, as we know from their carvings and sculpting at Belize’s ancient sites.
The most common is the
Morelet's crocodile which lives in slow flowing rivers such as the Sittee or New River and inland lagoons. The American crocodile favours the coastal saltwater lagoons, making its way out as far as some of the islands such as Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker where conservation efforts, particularly against illegal feeding of crocodiles, are prolific.
In terms of proliferation,
Belize’s birdlife is what stays in most people’s minds when they explore the country’s jungles, rivers and forests. Wildlife holidays in Belize will undoubtedly bring out the binocular wearer within, with dawn and dusk skies or rainforest canopies all achatter with the likes of
red-lored parrots, crested guan and
bare-throated tiger heron.
No one was chirping louder than conservationists when the
harpy eagle was discovered in the Bladen Nature Reserve in 2008. Until then, it was thought that this massive raptor was nearly extinct in Belize.