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Chan Chich Lodge |
Address:
Belize City, Belize
Tel: (501) 223-4419
Fax: (501) 223-4419
Email: info@chanchich.com
URL: Chan Chich Lodge
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Type of Property: Hotel
Beach Location: Off Beach (Tropical Setting)
Island: Belize
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 CheapCaribbean.com Reservations - Belize Resort Deals
Expedia.com Reservations - Belize Resorts
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LAST MINUTE OFFERS from CheapCaribbean.com: View All Island Deals
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$799.00
Book by: Jul 12, 2009
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$849.00
Book by: Jul 04, 2009
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Retrace the footsteps of the Mayas or local guide with extensive knowledge of flora, fauna and Maya history. The lodge is located in the lower plaza of an ancient Maya city and is in a private nature reserve of over 250,000 acres.
Chan Chich Lodge can be reached by air from Belize City or by automobile. If driving, four wheel drive is strongly recommended, and plan on taking all day from Belize City. Although a long drive (4-5 hours) you will have a unique opportunity to see a number of different ecosystems in the country and, no doubt, a considerable amount of wildlife. It is a memorable drive.
As a guest at Chan Chich, you are no doubt curious about Gallon Jug. Maya sites are scattered throughout the forests surrounding Gallon Jug, including Chan Chich Lodge itself, which is situated, with the Archaeology Department's blessing, in the lower plaza of one. Most of these sites are not yet named and undoubtedly, there are many others waiting to be discovered.
Like much of Belize, its history is closely tied to that of the timber industry. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, land in large blocks was sold cheaply to attract people to Belize. At one time, the venerable 150 year old Belize Estates Company owned roughly one fifth of the entire country, about one million acres including much of the northwest corner of the country.
From the turn of the century until the 1960's, timber, mainly mahogany, cedar and santa maría, were selectively logged from this area. In the early days, bullocks were used to haul logs to the rivers, eventually giving way to steam engines. Logs were then transported via a railroad, no longer in existence, to the New River Lagoon at Hillbank. From there they floated via a circuitous route past Orange Walk Town to Chetumal Bay and finally down to Belize City. Today, tropical forest deforestation is a global issue, but in Belize, selective logging practices have left her forests roughly 75% intact, in direct contrast with much of the rest of Central America.
During the mid-1980s, Belize Estates Company was purchased by Belizean Barry Bowen and subsequently divided into four parcels. Just south of the Rio Bravo lands, lies the Gallon Jug parcel, some 130,000 acres retained by Bowen. The Rio Bravo lands are currently under the stewardship of a local conservation organization known as Programme for Belize. Bowen donated an additional 10,000 acres to be under their management and protection.
With 2,500 acres under intensive agriculture, and the development of Chan Chich Lodge for ecotourism, Bowen seeks to conserve the Gallon Jug block of tropical forest as a private reserve in a self sustaining manner. With the Rio Bravo lands, this gives protection to about 350,000 acres of tropical forest. When considered from a tri-national park point of view with Kalakmul in Mexico and the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala, the Gallon Jug block becomes even more important as contiguous habitat for a healthy biodiversity by allowing genetic exchange.
Farming efforts at Gallon Jug include corn, soybeans, coffee, cacao and cardamom. An ambitious cattle project using new embryo transfer technology was begun using English Hereford bloodlines to improve the local stock. While this project is centered at Gallon Jug, a regional application is planned. It is hoped that these agricultural activities will allow the remainder of the land to remain forested.
And how did Gallon Jug get its name? In July 1943, according to the Belize Estates Company logging foreman Austin Felix, it was decided to move the logging headquarters from Hillbank closer to the head of the railroad. Eventually they settled in an area of "high bush" to set up the new camp. Several names were considered including Muddy Camp and Botlass Camp, neither of which were considered quite apropos.
But when Austin Felix found three old gallon jugs lying in the grass near his house, he had a name: Campamente Galon de Jarro. "But," as he says in The Gliksten Journal, "Gallon Jug was simpler, and Gallon Jug it became." |
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