Last Saturday Tom and I took a walking tour of the Community Baboon Sanctuary (CBS). This was one of the items that I have on my list of Things to do in Belize. So I was thrilled and grateful when our friends, Andrea and Dion, invited us to go out there with them.
The sanctuary was founded in 1985 by an American Primatologist, Dr Robert Horwich, and a Belizean landowner in Bermudian Landing, Fallet Young. From its beginnings with 12 landowners it has grown to have the support of over 200 private landowners. CBS focuses on four main goals-- Conservation, Education, Research and Tourism. And not only does it provide protection for the estimated 2000 Black Howler Monkeys in the area it also serves to protect the flora and fauna as well.
Here are just a few of the photos I took on our tour:
the museum...
warning about feeding and littering...
inside the museum...
Robert, our tour guide, led the way...
Robert was great at pointing out the various birds...he saw this tanager long before we did.
this is one of the two large lizards we saw in the area...
we saw a total of five monkeys...1 male, 3 females and 1 baby.
here is the baby peeking out to see us... the funny looking creatures down below!
these "baboon crossings" help ensure that the monkeys can safely cross the roads...
The tour we took was a nature walk through the private lands. It is mandatory to have a guide with you on the tour. Along with the nature walks they offer night hikes, river tours, crocodile night tours, and birding.
Our walk was confined to Bermudian Landing but there are also things to see and do in the villages of Big Falls / St. Paul's Bank, Willow's Bank, Double Head Cabbage, Isabella Bank, Scotland Half-Moon, and Flowers Bank as well.
Please go to the website http://www.howlermonkeys.org/ to learn more about the sanctuary or about how you can get involved with the work that CBS is doing. You can also check them out on Facebook.
And if you come to Belize... the sanctuary should definitely be on your list of places to go!
