pat the (great) cat!

The Belize Zoo Blog has a nice story today on a beautiful new book that will please animal lovers of all ages. I encourage you to check out this wonderful book, and consider giving this as a holiday gift this year to loved ones on your list! Parents, teachers, and children especially will appreciate this language-rich, content-rich true story, with each segment offered in English and a side-bar in Spanish. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to SHARP Literacy.

Pat the (Great) Cat: A Jaguar's Journey is one special book! Its web site is terrific. There you can check out the story behind the story, a photo gallery, links for parents and teachers, and learn about The Literacy Project that brought this to fruition.

Congratulations to our friend, and devoted friend of The Belize Zoo, Nancy Kennedy, for spearheading this special project!

junior buddy: a jaguar's tale

Look who is in print. It's Junior Buddy the jaguar!! Followers of this blog may remember that Matt and I traveled to Belize a couple of times with Tom and his classes, and one of the focal points of those trips has been The Belize Zoo. TBZ is doing a great deal with conservation biology to save and preserve precious biodiversity and animals in Central America (click on the preceding link to learn more about TBZ's jaguar rehab program). I had the good fortune to meet Junior Buddy on both trips, and on the 2009 visit, I was able to go into a special enclosure within Junior Buddy's area and got to pet him.

He has a special story, and is a very special jaguar! This forthcoming Scholastic book is available for pre-order now at barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com, and it will make a great gift, not only for the 4-8 year old set for which it is advertised, but for animal lovers and children at heart everywhere!

mango tree

A year ago this week I was in Belize soaking up the moist heat of the rain forest. When I think of Belize, I think of earthy smells, the green all around, the warmth, blue morpho butterflies, brilliant colors in the birds and the flowers, a simple and beautiful lifestyle, delicious foods and succulent fruits.

At my lunch break today, I started humming this song, Mango Tree, by Australian Indie folk duo Angus and Julia Stone (a brother and sister gig). It seemed like a good post for today. I like the creative video with the sketches changing into film and then back again. I like the butterfly that is flitting around the screen. I love the images of the water. Even though this is probably set down under, it brought me to a familiar place in my mind.

While all around us there is fluffy snow in the air, all it takes is one image, one thought, and I am day dreaming back to Belize.

"I wish I had a mango tree. In my backyard..."

tbz adventures

During our recent group trip to Belize, we had the chance to make two special visits to The Belize Zoo (TBZ). On the day of our arrival (Saturday) at the Tropical Education Center, where we stayed for the first five nights, we took a quick bus ride over to TBZ and had a night tour of the zoo. The animals were particularly active at night. Unfortunately, I was on the dopey side and forgot my camera, so down the road, I may add a few photos when others from the trip share more with me. For now, I am including a couple of photos from participant Wendy, who snapped some good ones of the fer de lance and the "friendly" boa constrictor.

A few days later, on Wednesday, January 7th, we had a special half-day tour of the Zoo led by founder and director herself, Sharon Matola! Everywhere Sharon led us, she would call out to the animals and they would gather round and noisily greet her. It was amazing. I didn't forget my camera this time.

We stopped off to see April the Tapir, along with Tapirs Ceiba and Navidad. We spent time with the Scarlet Macaws, including Blue, the Scarlet Macaw that Sharon rescued, as shared in the book about Sharon, The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, by Bruce Barcott. We also got to see Panama the Harpy Eagle.

We saw the spider monkeys, noisy howler monkeys, CT the jaguar, a gorgeous puma, the Aracari Toucans, and a keel-billed toucan.

A very special thing we got to do, thanks to Sharon, was a jaguar encounter with Junior Buddy. Junior Buddy is special. His mother was very sick when she came to TBZ a couple of years ago. The staff was nursing her, and didn't know she was pregnant. They soon found that she was, and Junior Buddy was born at the zoo. His mother was so sick that she rejected Junior Buddy, and he ended up being raised by Sharon and the staff. What we were able to do in small groups was to go inside a small safety cage inside Junior Buddy's larger area. He would come up to the cage and we were able to feed him chicken bones and pet him. As you can see from one of the photos, Junior Buddy enjoyed "grooming" Henry through the cage. Junior Buddy enjoyed rolling over and doing some field routines for us, and we clapped and cheered with delight. He patiently went through four or five rounds of these small-group "visits." What an experience it was.

We also got to visit with Wild Boy, a rehabbed jaguar whom Sharon trained to give "high fives" when you carefully high five just a little distance from his enclosure. We also got to see some white-tailed deer, a group of odoriferous peccaries, and several birds that are native to Belize.

That is the thing about The Belize Zoo. Visitors get to see the animals that are native to Belize. One won't see elephants or giraffes, but native Belizeans will tell you that before Sharon founded TBZ, some had never seen the animals of Belize. Many myths were taught to children about the animals. With Sharon's educational efforts, species in danger of extinction will be preserved, and the people of Belize have the opportunity to value these special animals rather than fear them. All the exhibits contain large areas full of the native rainforest plants and topography. The setting is as natural as it could be.

The highlight of the TBZ visit for me was a visit to see Cortland the Margay kitten. Cortland is not on exhibit, but she is being conditioned to have people enter her large enclosure to take photographs. She peacefully and regally sat in her tree perch while we took photo after photo. What an adorable and beautiful cat she is! And she is named after our college!

Our visit to TBZ certainly was memorable. In addition to seeing all the animals, we learned a great deal about the ecology of the area, and the conservation efforts that the zoo supports. I included photos of just a few of the many educational signs that are placed all over the Zoo grounds to give you a sense of the ubiquitous education. I hope you will be able to visit The Belize Zoo some time soon."Cortland"

mt. pine ridge trip

On Monday, January 5th, we took a full-day trip to Mt. Pine Ridge and to the Green Hills Butterfly Farm. We left at approximately 8 a.m. and took the long bus ride to a Pine Savannah reserve, Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. Geographically, it was not as long in distance as one might think for a nearly 3 1/2 hour trip one way, but because the terrain was extremely rough, our bus traveled very slowly and carefully over the mostly dirt roads, over hill and dale, up the mountain. I laughed a little when I looked up the web link for Mt. Pine Ridge, because it says it is not accessible by bus, only by car. After our trip, I can understand why they say that. Stanley did an amazing job getting us there on our big, white bus. (And we even got a flat tire, discovered just before we left to go back, and thank goodness we had a spare! Stanley and Peter changed that giant bus tire in the heat in 15 minutes flat!)



This reserve is unbelievably beautiful, and it was worth the long and bumpy trip! We enjoyed swimming in the cool and clear pools, and the students (and Matthew) slid down the natural water slides!

"Within its boundaries are the Rio Pools, a popular site for a summer picnic, where the river cascades down into a narrow cavern strewn with granite boulders. It's a great place to spend some time enjoying the deep pools and clambering around the enormous granite rocks."

[Remember to click on photos to enlarge them.]

On the way home, we made a stop at Green Hills Butterfly Farm where noted biologist Jan Meerman refreshed us on the life-cycle of the butterfly and showed us around the butterfly house, full of blue morpho butterflies, prevalent in Belize, among others.

belize digs

We had wonderful accommodations for our Belize trip. We stayed at the Tropical Education Center of The Belize Zoo. This was a great home base for our many excursions, and the rainforest grounds themselves were full of beautiful trees, vegetation, and flowers -- perfect for hiking around and bird watching. The TEC has a pond that is full of crocodiles, turtles, and has a host of birds hanging out. We were able to feed the turtles and crocodiles one evening and got to see quite a few up close. One evening, staffer John caught a baby crocodile and let Matt hold it. I am hoping to get a photo of that to add!

Tom and Matt and I were housed in a cabin a short walk down the path from the dorms, and Henry and Janet were in a similar cabin just down the path.

Our cabin was up on stilts so that it sat up in the canopy of trees. It had a wonderful screened-in porch on two sides, and inside it had two double beds, a small counter area, and a small bathroom with a hot shower stall! The cabin had electricity, and it was wonderful to have a small refrigerator and lights to turn on at night. The cabin had a large jug of drinking water in it, and it was very clean and comfortable. At night and in the morning, with eyes closed, we could hear the sounds of the rainforest . . . birds, critters, tree frogs and crickets. It was a symphony of nature. The air is earthy and moist and fragrant. The whole atmosphere is rejuvenating.

The students stayed in dormitories, two beds to a room, and there were bathroom facilities a short walk from the dorms.

The dining hall was a short walk from the dorms, and we had buffet style meals cooked up by the talented Miss Muriel. Our meals were traditional Belize dishes. For breakfast, fresh fruit (pineapple, watermelon, and papaya) was plentiful, along side scrambled eggs, refried beans, tortilla or Johnny Cake biscuits or Fried Jacks (fried tortilla dough with sugar or syrup).

Lunches were mostly packed to take on trips, and they included the most delicious burritos or sandwiches and cakes. The beverages were usually lime-aid or sometimes soda in a glass bottle. The Coke tastes so much better there because they make it with cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. The difference is noticeable! Some of our group bought Belikin beer by the bottle for a cocktail.

Dinner entrees included stewed chicken barbecued chicken, curried pork stew, fried tilapia and spaghetti. Sides were steamed vegetables, rice and beans, potato salad, and coleslaw or cooked cabbage. The fresh salsas were incredibly flavorful, and the habanero hot sauce was in jars on the table. Desserts were simple and delicious. They included bread pudding and some cinnamon and plain cakes without frosting. The food was absolutely delicious, and because we were active all day, and didn't snack between meals, we ate quite a bit, and felt incredibly healthy with such a good diet. I managed to clean my plate at every meal, something I don't often do when I am home.

We traveled with our guide Peter on a large white bus, driven expertly on the bumpy and dusty roads up and down the mountains by Stanley, assisted by Daniel. The three Belizeans made our trip special, because they bonded with our group after just a day or so, and they "hung out" with us on the various excursions or after mealtime. Peter and Stanley (as well as Tom) sang some songs and played the guitar. It was relaxed and fun. I can't imagine that anyone missed television or computers. We had a simple, good, full time.

The last two days of the trip were on Ambergris Caye on the Caribbean. We stayed a short walk to the beach at Steve & Becky's Cute Little Motel, and though we missed the traditional cooking of the TEC, we enjoyed some nice meals out in San Pedro. The motel was quaint and clean, and for the first time that week, I actually used a hairdryer. We had such perfect weather all week long, I don't think I would change one thing about the itinerary. Our digs were delightful.