Chris and I have been promising ourselves a visit to Red Bank to see the scarlet macaws for some time now. there are only around 150 macaws in Belize, and during the winter around 100 of them move from Cayo district down to Red Bank, a Mayan village in Stann Creek, to feed on the Pole Wood fruits they find there.
Guests Keith Bourne and Shelia Lamb and the Sharman family, Paul, Pang and Aranya, were all keen to go on this trip, so very early one morning last week we all bundled into Patience and went round to the Monkey River car park to rendezvous with our friend Basillio Mes of Exotic Belize Tours.
We were soon on our way up the Monkey River road which is an adventure in itself, especially as Basillio is the Mayan Michael Schumacher, and also talks nineteen to the dozen as he drives. Fortunately he is an excellent driver, and our roads, though rough, are empty.
Red Bank is a delightful Maya village with mainly traditional houses, very peaceful and pretty and a thriving community, with 270 children attending the local school. Basillio grew up here, and our first stop was at his aunt’s house. In the front of her house there is a small shop, and next to it is a magnificent diesel powered corn grinding machine, where she grinds the local corn for tortillas, the staple of the Maya diet.
In fact, Mayans believe that the first humans grew from corn, so it has great significance for them as the symbol of life as well as practical value as a principle food. There are maize field all aroundthe village.
Basillio ordered lunch for us which we were to eat later, then we drove on to the start of our walk. We parked in a leafy lane, and walked through to a large tree filled glade, very lovely, which is a camping ground for tourists, though there was no-one to be seen there. We saw a red vented woodpecker who very obligingly posed for us, as well as a troop of toucans in the tree canopy above.
“It’s quite a walk,” declared Basillio. “We’ll take it steady.” My heart sank. Why is it that whenever I go anywhere with Basillio I end up watching him spring up a vertical path like a goat in front of me while I labour along behind feeling as if I am going to have a stroke at any minute? This time was no different. Chatting soon became more difficult as the path grew steeper and steeper. This is saying something as Basillio and I can chat for Belize! Well, it was me having the difficulty. At one point, Basillio seemed to have hunched over and be examining his hands. Then I realized, “Basillio, you’re not texting are you?!” Talk about one foot in the modern world, the other in the Mundo Maya – Basillio was messaging his brother whilst half way up what felt like the highest mountain in Belize.
“How about a snack?” asked Basillio, bending over and picking up a small twig. “Oh, no,” said I, “you’re not going to make us eat…” But oh yes – it was termites! Basillio scraped away the outside of a termite nest and stuck the twig in. Out it came with a few crunchy protein morsels attached. “Tastes like carrots,” said Basillio, seriously. Well, must be some kind of Mayan carrots. Actually, they taste a bit smoky, and not at all unpleasant. if I’m ever lost in the jungle, I’ll eat them to survive, though lord knows how many make a meal! Our gallant crew (most of them anyway) all had their termite snack, which must have fortified us, as eventually, and for some of us, surprisingly, we made it to the top, where there is a look out point.
A few birders were already there, and one had a monocular set up trained on the macaws across the valley. “Just look through that” invited the friendly owner of this superb piece of kit. I did, and WOW! – two beautiful macaws sitting on a tree 300 yards away, snacking on pole wood fruits, and looking as if you could reach out and touch them. Aranya was next up and got a look, but then the birds flew away, so the rest of the party missed this view.
We settled down quietly, and Paul, who is a pro photographer and was official photographer on the day, set up his camera with zoom lenses. The view down the valley was spectacular, with the Swazey branch of the Monkey River lying like a discarded silver ribbon on a green velvet cloak in the valley bottom.
Our patience was rewarded. The raucous cries of macaws rang up the hillside. “They’re flying!” said Basillio in a hushed, excited voice. Sure enough, through the valley came a small flight of macaws, scarlet, blue and gold, and looking larger than I had imagined. The blue was the very colour of the tropical sky, the gold is like the evening sun, and the scarlet is that of the deepest scarlet hibiscus. Truly the epitome of the tropics, and for me, a peak experience that I will never forget.
We sat and chatted quietly with the other bird watchers, saw macaws coming and going though always on the far side of the valley. Sometimes if you are lucky you see them close up – but we had to work for our sighting.
On the way down, which was much easier than going up, we had leisure to look at the trees, plants and other small birds and creatures around us. We all felt very pleased with ourselves, and the shade of the jungle made it a pretty pleasant descent.
Once back in Red Bank, we enjoyed watching Basilio’s aunt and cousins making tortillas on the open fire hearth in traditional style – not put on for the tourists, just what they do every day. The lady guests were entranced by the beautiful happy children, and many photos were taken. The chicken lovers amongst us (me, Keith and Shelia) were entranced by the lovely chickens, and a deal was made for me to go and buy some of auntie’s chickens in the near future to add to the diversity of our flock. Keith was green with envy!
We sat down to a nice lunch of caldo (spicy chicken stew) and tortillas, washed down with water, and finally returned home at around 2pm after a quick shopping stop in Independence.
Later that night we all had a barbecue on the beach, there was a great feeling in the air, we had had such a wonderful day together and seen something that very few people in the world have seen.
The photos here are from Paul and Shelia.
Guests Keith Bourne and Shelia Lamb and the Sharman family, Paul, Pang and Aranya, were all keen to go on this trip, so very early one morning last week we all bundled into Patience and went round to the Monkey River car park to rendezvous with our friend Basillio Mes of Exotic Belize Tours.
We were soon on our way up the Monkey River road which is an adventure in itself, especially as Basillio is the Mayan Michael Schumacher, and also talks nineteen to the dozen as he drives. Fortunately he is an excellent driver, and our roads, though rough, are empty.
Red Bank is a delightful Maya village with mainly traditional houses, very peaceful and pretty and a thriving community, with 270 children attending the local school. Basillio grew up here, and our first stop was at his aunt’s house. In the front of her house there is a small shop, and next to it is a magnificent diesel powered corn grinding machine, where she grinds the local corn for tortillas, the staple of the Maya diet.
In fact, Mayans believe that the first humans grew from corn, so it has great significance for them as the symbol of life as well as practical value as a principle food. There are maize field all aroundthe village.
Basillio ordered lunch for us which we were to eat later, then we drove on to the start of our walk. We parked in a leafy lane, and walked through to a large tree filled glade, very lovely, which is a camping ground for tourists, though there was no-one to be seen there. We saw a red vented woodpecker who very obligingly posed for us, as well as a troop of toucans in the tree canopy above.
“It’s quite a walk,” declared Basillio. “We’ll take it steady.” My heart sank. Why is it that whenever I go anywhere with Basillio I end up watching him spring up a vertical path like a goat in front of me while I labour along behind feeling as if I am going to have a stroke at any minute? This time was no different. Chatting soon became more difficult as the path grew steeper and steeper. This is saying something as Basillio and I can chat for Belize! Well, it was me having the difficulty. At one point, Basillio seemed to have hunched over and be examining his hands. Then I realized, “Basillio, you’re not texting are you?!” Talk about one foot in the modern world, the other in the Mundo Maya – Basillio was messaging his brother whilst half way up what felt like the highest mountain in Belize.
“How about a snack?” asked Basillio, bending over and picking up a small twig. “Oh, no,” said I, “you’re not going to make us eat…” But oh yes – it was termites! Basillio scraped away the outside of a termite nest and stuck the twig in. Out it came with a few crunchy protein morsels attached. “Tastes like carrots,” said Basillio, seriously. Well, must be some kind of Mayan carrots. Actually, they taste a bit smoky, and not at all unpleasant. if I’m ever lost in the jungle, I’ll eat them to survive, though lord knows how many make a meal! Our gallant crew (most of them anyway) all had their termite snack, which must have fortified us, as eventually, and for some of us, surprisingly, we made it to the top, where there is a look out point.
A few birders were already there, and one had a monocular set up trained on the macaws across the valley. “Just look through that” invited the friendly owner of this superb piece of kit. I did, and WOW! – two beautiful macaws sitting on a tree 300 yards away, snacking on pole wood fruits, and looking as if you could reach out and touch them. Aranya was next up and got a look, but then the birds flew away, so the rest of the party missed this view.
We settled down quietly, and Paul, who is a pro photographer and was official photographer on the day, set up his camera with zoom lenses. The view down the valley was spectacular, with the Swazey branch of the Monkey River lying like a discarded silver ribbon on a green velvet cloak in the valley bottom.
Our patience was rewarded. The raucous cries of macaws rang up the hillside. “They’re flying!” said Basillio in a hushed, excited voice. Sure enough, through the valley came a small flight of macaws, scarlet, blue and gold, and looking larger than I had imagined. The blue was the very colour of the tropical sky, the gold is like the evening sun, and the scarlet is that of the deepest scarlet hibiscus. Truly the epitome of the tropics, and for me, a peak experience that I will never forget.
We sat and chatted quietly with the other bird watchers, saw macaws coming and going though always on the far side of the valley. Sometimes if you are lucky you see them close up – but we had to work for our sighting.
On the way down, which was much easier than going up, we had leisure to look at the trees, plants and other small birds and creatures around us. We all felt very pleased with ourselves, and the shade of the jungle made it a pretty pleasant descent.
Once back in Red Bank, we enjoyed watching Basilio’s aunt and cousins making tortillas on the open fire hearth in traditional style – not put on for the tourists, just what they do every day. The lady guests were entranced by the beautiful happy children, and many photos were taken. The chicken lovers amongst us (me, Keith and Shelia) were entranced by the lovely chickens, and a deal was made for me to go and buy some of auntie’s chickens in the near future to add to the diversity of our flock. Keith was green with envy!
We sat down to a nice lunch of caldo (spicy chicken stew) and tortillas, washed down with water, and finally returned home at around 2pm after a quick shopping stop in Independence.
Later that night we all had a barbecue on the beach, there was a great feeling in the air, we had had such a wonderful day together and seen something that very few people in the world have seen.
The photos here are from Paul and Shelia.
posted by Sue Harris @ 1:38 pm
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