Travel Tips

There is a Heliconia walk at the Gardens with many different types of heliconia. We enjoyed this the most as many of the heliconia were blooming at the time of our visit in late February. Little else at the gardens was in bloom then.

The Botanical Gardens and DuPlooys Jungle Resort are a great place for birdwatching. There is a birdfeeder on the deck at DuPlooys so you can dine in the company of some colourful toucans. We also saw a blue crowned mot mot from the deck.

The black orchid is Belize's National Flower. It is not really black but a very dark purple on its backside. It is actually a very small flower, aprox 2cm across.

There is also a bird pond at the Botanical Gardens with a duck blind from which you can sit and watch the birds. There were several types of duck as well as this colourful jacaranda. The jacaranda has long toes which enable it to walk across floating vegetation. Sure enough, we witnessed this fellow walking across the lilypads in the pond.

I don't know the name of this flower but it grows profusely in Belize. There was one in full bloom near the San Ignacio bus station and also this specimen at the Botanical Gardens.

We spotted this basilisk, or Jesus Lizard near the gardens. He can run very quickly standing up on his hind feet. Apparantly they move so quickly that they can also run across water, hence the name Jesus Lizard.