A jaguar reserve with forest trails and a waterfall, half an hour from the sea.
Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is a bowl of forest under the Maya Mountains, widely described as the world's first jaguar preserve. The jaguars are there but almost never seen; what you do see are tracks, birds, river pools and, if you walk far enough, a waterfall to swim under.
Behind it, the Stann Creek valley grows citrus and bananas along the Southern Highway. We use Cockscomb as a day out from Hopkins or Placencia, or a night for those who want to walk the trails at dawn.
The waterfall trail
A forest walk to a swimming pool under a waterfall.
Jaguar country
Tracks and camera-trap stories; sightings are very rare and never promised.Check before you travel
River tubing
Floating South Stann Creek back towards the visitor centre, when the water allows.
Maya Centre village
The village at the reserve entrance, with crafts and a family-run lunch.
Boat and flight times are ranges and depend on the weather and the operator. How we get around
We choose places to stay for the setting, the people running them, and how they fit your plans.
This is forest, so it's humid, muddy after rain and buggy. Good shoes and repellent matter more here than anywhere else on the trip.
We don't sell jaguar sightings. If you see one, it will be the story of the year.
River lodges on the Macal and Mopan, the ATM cave, pine ridge waterfalls and Caracol.
Lagoons full of birds, the New River to Lamanai, and the dory-builders of Sarteneja.
