AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums About Belize Nature The Belize Zoo

Valentine Fundraiser being held by The Belize Zoo
Celso Poot - Operations Manager, The Belize Zoo

Travel from Canada to Belize Zoo for 3 Jaguar encounters, Junior Buddy and Zoo Animals
This was one of the best days of our lives to see Jaguars up close and personal. Especially Junior Buddy the Jaguar, that we have been watching on you tube for years. We started our day in Canada the day before the zoo visit, we tried sleeping at the Houston airport for our 7 hr layover, but none of us really slept. We were awake for about 32 hours by the time we left the zoo, we were so tired. We drove to Rolson Hotel in San Ignacio for our first night to be close to the Guatemala Border. We fell asleep to many barking dogs.

Special Thanks to Sharon Matola the founder/owner of the Belize Zoo and Jose the trainer for making this "once in a lifetime" exciting day possible for us.

=================


FOR JAGUAR CAT LOVERS
We got to see Jaguars up close and personal again for the second time and it was just as incredible as the first time, four days before.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:28 Junior Buddy the Roll Over Jaguar
7:48 Rocky the High Five Jaguar
9:30 Lucky Boy the Jaguar

For more on jaguars at the zoo, CLICK HERE!


Tapirs, Monkeys, Coatimundi's, Jaguaroundi's

=================

Overnight at the Zoo is a really fun adventure!

Need a weekend escape with your family? Stay with us at The Tropical Education Center also known by many as The Belize Zoo Jungle Lodge.

Enjoy our pool and trails and ask about visiting the Zoo during the day and then experience the Zoo at Night!
For more information or to book your reservation, Contact us at +501 625-8330 (Also available on WhatsApp) or email tecreservations@belizezoo.org.

Keep on staying safe and thanks always for your continued support.

For more information, here is the accomodations page on the Belize Zoo website:
https://www.belizezoo.org/accommodation/accommodations.html

Night tour of the Belize Zoo. Highly recommended because you see the animals at their most active, and you can feed them.

"We recently took a nighttime virtual tour at the Belize Zoo to develop new content for our Belize Zoo Live! series. Here are some of the highlights from that night."

Night-Time Zoo Tours: Belizeans Enjoy Animal Encounters

When was the last time you went to the Belize Zoo? Was it when you were a child on a school trip, or more recently, on a socially distanced day out with family or friends? The Belize Zoo, now over thirty years old, is becoming more research-oriented under new leadership, and even more conscious of the loyalty of local Belizean visitors whose support literally keeps the animals fed during the pandemic. The Zoo is also offering an exciting alternative to daytime animal encounters. That's right, now you can visit the Zoo after hours and see what the critters get up to after dark. Here is our new feature, "The Bright Side." Or maybe in this case, "The Wild Side" might be a bit more accurate.

Sabreena Daly (standup)

Have you experienced wildlife at night time? Perhaps you've only seen it on Discovery Channel, but the Belize Zoo wants to give you an up close and personal experience of nocturnal wildlife at twilight.

Celso Poot, Director, Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center
"I mean, this is a work of passion and anybody who works at the zoo, they really love what they do and I think that is one of the contributing factors so far to our success at the Belize Zoo. The people that work here, really into the animals."

Jerson Garcia, Zoo Keeper

"So one of the first animals we will see for this night tour is the Kinkajou and he lives right here. Hello, this is Fuzzy. This is a fully nocturnal animal, during the day if you come to the zoo, he will be sleeping in that log. As soon as it gets dark, then Fuzzy will wake up and start moving around."

The Belize Zoo is home to over 200 animals. Celso Poot, who has taken over as director following the death of zoo founder, Sharon Matola, shared with us the challenges of inheriting leadership under difficult circumstances.

Celso Poot, DirectorBelize Zoo and Tropical Education Center
"The transition has been very challenging. Uh, Sharon was a good fundraiser. The transition happened at a time when we were in one of the, I would say, equivalent to a big disaster. You know, the pandemic has hit us very hard. Um, financially, our main source of revenue is through gate receipts, sales in the gift shops, sales in the cafeteria and also group stays over the Tropical and Educational Center. Uh, pre pandemic, the staffing were like fifty-eight. Uh, at the peak of the pandemic we went down to less than thirty employees. Today we're back up to thirty-eight employees. And all the employees are on a shift basis, reduced days, but we keep on working and doing what we're supposed to do for the well being of the animals at the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center."

The pandemic has meant going into survival mode for the institution that houses and protects Belize's wildlife treasures.

Jerson Garcia, Zoo Keeper

"I remember one of Ms. Sharon's words, "It's sacrifice time for everybody." We the zookeepers, we love what we do, so we do it with a passion. It's not just to come and 'Here is your food, have a good day.' No, we have to observe, we have to train. It's like our friends because we spend every day here with the animals and they rely on us. And um, it's a job yes, because we get paid for it, but its more than that for us."

Celso Poot says it was the loyalty of Belizean visitors, most of whom grew up visiting the Zoo, that has saved it.

Celso Pott, Director

"What most people don't know is we have the tropical education center where you can come spend a night with us and then tour the zoo at night. So most of the people doing the night tour were tourist or schools we host at the Tropical Education Center. But during the pandemic, we started offering it to Belizeans and so we had a lot of Belizean families coming to the zoo and experiencing the zoo at night. So for 2021, we had just over 25,000 Belizeans coming to the zoo to visit. We had over 17, 000 adults and over 17, 000 Belizean kids coming to the zoo. All their visitation contributed to the operation of the zoo so that also helped us in feeding the animals, keeping the lights on and paying the staff."

Jerson Garcia, Zoo Keeper

"So this is the Ocelot. And here he is. This is a male 8-year-old Ocelot, his name is Rhaburn. We got him from a farm, Rhaburn Ridge Farm, 8 years ago. This is how they greet. If he was mad, he would be jumping on the fence…All right, I'm going to put some meat on the fence, and he's going to jump for it. Ready, okay this is what he will do. So, here we have Indie the tapir. And this is a full grown, thirty-year-old, male tapir. Hi Indie. So let me show you, you just put it in his mouth like this and while he eats the carrots you can always give him a quick pet on his head so you feel how thick his skin is. Just put it in his mouth and don't be afraid."

As you can probably tell, my shaky attempt to pet Indie was quickly reassured with the realization that she was just a friendly Tapir that loved carrots as much as I do.

Celso Pott, Director

"Well to tell you, for the Christmas weekend and New Year's weekend, we were very busy with Belizeans so in a way it's a blessing that the borders are closed because they basically come and see and appreciate what we have here for them."

And we really appreciated this jaguar that rolls over on command. With the Bright Spot, I am Sabreena Daly.

If you and your family or school would like to do a night tour at the zoo, you can contact the Belize Zoo at 613-4966.

Channel 5

Belize Study Abroad Travelogues: Belize Zoo


The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Central
The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center is a zoo in Belize, located some 47 kilometres west of Belize City on the Western Highway. Set in 12 hectares, the zoo was founded in 1983 by Sharon Matola. It is home to more than 175 animals of about 48 species, all native to Belize.

The "Dry Season" is officially here, with daily temperatures well over 90° F. Thankfully, our Zookeepers always ensure the animals have ways to cool down, and even find fun, water-themed enrichment for them. Please enjoy this video of Fifi and Pomona the young ocelots playing with their boomer ball.



The Zoo is open as usual this Easter weekend from 8:30am to 5pm on Saturday and Monday, and 8:30am to 4pm on Sunday.

Conservation Camp for Kids

Every year, the Belize Zoo takes about thirty students to spend a week at their Tropical Education Center to learn about the animals native to Belize's jungles and to find out how they can be protected. But, like everything else, the pandemic brought the camp to a halt in 2020. Now, for the first time in 2 years, the camp is back in full swing, with ten fewer students, but the same amount of adventure.

Courtney Menzies stopped by the Education Center this afternoon and met up with the students to hear about their experience.

The best little zoo in the world has restarted its Conservation Camp after a two year pandemic pause that broke its 27 year streak. But with help from sponsors, the camp was able to seamlessly kick back up - the only difference being a few less kids.

And the twenty teenagers chosen to participate are spending five days and four nights at the Belize Zoo's Tropical Education Center where they'll learn about the animals the zoo houses as well as the importance of conserving the environment.

And according to the Conservation Program Manager, Jamal Andrewin Bohn, the goal is to hopefully inspire future conservationists.

Jamal Andrewin Bohn, Conservation Program Manager, Belize Zoo
"The end goal of camp first and foremost is to encourage more conservation minded attitudes in the next generation, it sound cliché, but it is proven to work, myself and many others are products of zoo camp, we came in our teenage years and have moved on to be in the conservation field in some capacity, so that's the end goal, even if they don't end up in this field, they leave with a little more understanding and appreciation of Belize's natural heritage and natural wealth that will hopefully influence their career choices and so to achieve that, what we have done is that we have this five day, four night camp where they're immersed here at the zoo's Tropical Education Center, they're out together with teenagers from all over the country and then they're exposed to different experiential learning combined with theoretical activities."

"They do a day tour of the zoo, a nocturnal tour, they are encouraged to come up with some very short but thoughtful behavioral studies on the animals of interest for them at the zoo that they could monitor in real time, we take them to visit some very unique protected areas in our neighborhood basically that most Belizeans wouldn't get to see on a regular basis, they're exposed to experts in their field so we have them learning from field biologists, from tour guides, from everyone in this field that has contributed to the preservation and advocacy of Belize's natural heritage and then they're in turn encouraged to kind of take a lead role in interpreting some of these concepts that they're learning so a lot of them will engage in having some debates amongst themselves, they'll come up with animal inspired products, these art models that are inspired by animals that really interest them and kind of emulate some of the adaptations or the cool natural history that they've learnt about the animals that they identify with and they take these concepts and demonstrate them to their own peers."

And while today's canoe trip fell through because of the condition of the river, the kids were divided into a hiking group and an art group.

And it was the Raquel Arts School that taught the children to paint. Volunteer, Courtney Gentle, explained why this portion of the camp is so important.

Courtney Gentle, Volunteer, Raquel Arts
"My point is to teach kids about art, the reason they should do art, it's very therapeutic and we're teaching them they could do art and make it out of anything and everything, we're teaching them to recycle and do art at the same time."

Courtney Menzies:
"So how are you combining the elements of art with what the students are learning while at the camp?"

Courtney Gentle, Volunteer, Raquel Arts
"We brought pieces of wood that the carpenters use, we're teaching them, they could recycle because after the carpenters have made their table, they're going to throw that little piece of wood away so we can turn that into everything and anything, we can turn it into a coaster, a magnet on the fridge, anything, your imagination is your limit."

And whether it's painting, hiking, or tours, the children are all ready to experience the rest of the camp - and to learn about the animals they normally wouldn't see at home.

Kaleen Bevans, 13 Years Old
"I wanted to come to learn about the animals and different things because they said they would have a lot of different things like painting and so, I did a keychain and a lot of other things, tonight we're going on the zoo night tour to learn about the different animals and so."

Courtney Menzies:
"Why are you interested in learning about animals and the environment?"

Kaleen Bevans, 13 Years Old
"Because when I get big, I want save the planet and so because there's a lot of pollution is around in waters and so and without that, the younger generation won't get to see the fishes and the pretty birds and so."

"My favorite part is when I get to see the birds and so because how they cross and before they mate you get to see how they dance in the air and all the pretty colors."

Leon Gillett, 15 Years Old
"I don't have anything to do home and I want learn about animals and thing."

Courtney Menzies:
"What is it about animals that interests you?"

Kaleen Bevans, 13 Years Old
"I like the jaguar, I want to put in a big tattoo of a jaguar."

Courtney Menzies:
"What are you learning in the camp so far?"

Kaleen Bevans, 13 Years Old
"How to put up a bush camera. You need animals in the community, I don't know how the trees and thing would sprout up because we know birds take seeds and when they eat it they [excrete] it and produce plants that's why other plants come from other countries. So yeah, you need animals."

Aahil Codrington, 12 Years Old
"I wanted to come here so I could learn more about animals because I want to work at the zoo."

Courtney Menzies:
"Why do you want to work at the zoo?"

Aahil Codrington, 12 Years Old
"Because I like animals."

Courtney Menzies:
"What do you like about them?"

Aahil Codrington, 12 Years Old
"Well that they're unique in their own way and I want to protect them because they're becoming endangered."

Courtney Menzies:
"I believe tonight you guys are doing the night tour so how do you feel about that?"

Aahil Codrington, 12 Years Old
"I feel excited, I hope that it's going to be fun and not lots of mosquitos biting me."

LeeAnn Pott, 17 Years Old
"I come to this camp because I want to experience all the animals the zoo have, learn about different species in the country and I love the adventures."

Courtney Menzies:
"Do you feel when you get older you want to go into the conservation field or anything working with animals or the environment?"

LeeAnn Pott, 17 Years Old
"Um, I would say yes because dealing with the animals and the plants, it's very interesting."

Courtney Menzies:
"What do you like about it?"

LeeAnn Pott, 17 Years Old
"I like about the plants that you get to know the different types of plants in the environment and the animals, I love when you train them, like how Miss Lady trained them, you could touch some of them."

The final day of the camp is on Friday - and the kids are all hoping that time moves a little slower.

And if your child is interested in attending this camp, they can look out for it next summer on the Belize Zoo's social media pages.

Channel 7

Belize Watch Belize Zoo Part 1
The Belize Zoo was founded in 1983 by Sharon Matola. Since then, the animal population at the zoo has increased as well as the zoo's reputation.


Belize Watch Belize Zoo Part 2
We continue our walk through of the Belize Zoo with Director Celso Poot, Conservation Program Manager Jamal Andrewin Bohn and General Curator Humberto Wohlers.