Belize: Monkey River Tour with Captain Jak’s

One of the most popular tours from Placencia in Belize is the Monkey River Tour by Captain Jak’s. It’s easy to arrange for this tour through the Sirenian Bay Resort concierge desk.

As our boat rode through the mangroves and the Caribbean Sea, our guide, Doyle, pointed out the stunning wildlife and explained what we’d see on the tour before we entered the mouth of the Monkey River at Monkey River Village.

There are about 310 people living in Monkey River Village, and Doyle shared the history of the people, animals, and plants living there. We traveled slowly up the river for about 6 miles as Doyle pointed out the spectacular wildlife of Belize.  Doyle is an experienced boatman easily navigating the narrow and maze-like mangroves, stopping the engine occasionally to listen for other boats navigating these narrow passages.

We saw a plethora of beautiful birds, colorful iguanas, bats, spiders, and even a crocodile. Doyle educated us on each animal, its habits, and attributes.  As we approached the end of the river we could hear the Howler Monkeys.

We docked the boat and hiked into the jungle along paths created by hunters (be sure you have plenty of bug spray for this as the mosquitos love to chomp on human meat!) Doyle pointed out the local plants, bamboo, poisonous spiders (we narrowly avoided walking into the thick web), and tropical forest trees.

He then guided us through a thick bamboo part of the jungle where the Howler Monkey’s met us with their distinctive greeting. We stopped to watch the family of Howler Monkey’s play a while, before heading back to our boat.

We enjoyed a peaceful cruise back to Monkey Village where we enjoyed a traditional Belizian lunch of rice, black beans, and local fish. On our way back to Placencia we stopped at an area where the manatee feed and saw a small group of them grazing on seagrass, enjoying their own private ecosystem. They looked so peaceful. Doyle even let Julian drive the boat back to Placencia.

We all learned so much on this tour and I would highly recommend this as a must-do excursion when you are in Belize. But don’t forget the sunscreen, bug spray, and hat!

Click here to book your Monkey River Tour with Captain Jak’s

*** This article is sponsored but all opinions are my own***

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