any wildlife spottings on the cave tube rainforest hike?

[boastud]

We are thinking of doing the cave tubing excursion, and have a few ?s about the hike. What kind of wildlife have people seen? Kinda hoping to see a howler monkey. Will water shoes do?

[Al's_gal]

We are thinking of doing the cave tubing excursion, and have a few ?s about the hike. What kind of wildlife have people seen? Kinda hoping to see a howler monkey. Will water shoes do?

 

I don't know if we really saw any wildlife, but other people may have had more luck.

 

Water shoes will be fine, and if you don't feel like bringing yours, there are some there available to rent. We both wore crocs and they were very comfortable!

[EBallgrl]

We saw a line of marching ants...that was it. I wore water shoes and my toes were sore afterwards from kicking rocks while hiking (not on purpose...I am a clumbsy walker).

[cat26]

Marching (red) ants was about it for us too.

Water shoes should be fine. Have fun!

[piratesparrow]

We didn't see any wildlife, but our guide did a great job in pointing out cool stuff like medicinal plants, hard woods and a few birds.

 

The caves were definately awesome, just make sure you do a search so you can make the right decision in choosing the operator/guide we have no complaints about ours.

 

 

Enjoy!

[clackey]

I thought that it was stange that there was NO wildlife when we were there. The only animals (birds) that I saw were on the drive to and from the caves and I was looking for anything alive. The only things that I saw were 2 coatis that a man had on leashes. I believe that their names were Romeo and Juliet.

[alfngf]

We saw a Toucan afterwards on the walk back to the changing area and like the others the only ones we saw on the walk were ants and termites.

 

Thomas did explain that Jaguars were in the area but they were nocturnal. We also heard another bird on the walk but we couldn't see it. He said it had been hanging around the area for a few weeks but I can't remember what the name of it was.

[codyody]

I would just as soon miss the jaguars anyway, thank you very much!:eek: :D

[Fraucruiser]

We saw the ants too!! We did however get to see a snake! Forgive me because I forgot what kind it was. Two guides found it and picked it up! We were on our way back to the busses at this point, so it was NOT in the river or the caves!!!!!!!

 

water shoes will be fine! I wore open toed Tevas and was fine!

[travelntreats]

Hi "boastud" - We also wanted to know that too, as the area seemed devoid of wildlife, despite being primary broadleaf rainforest, famous for hundreds of species of animal, reptile, insect, and marine life. On one visit there, we enquired about that, and one group of guides, including ours, said that with the advent of a company they now call "noisy.com", all the wildlife disappeared. Apparently, these new guys have air horns on their buses, and use them regularly, inside the park and outside, blaring away and chasing off the wildlife; they also chant and scream on the trails, and worse yet, INSIDE the caves, where the terrific danger of falling stalactities is real. Also, apparently, the authorities got after them, but to no avail. I saw some posts of people commenting about that kind of odd and dangerous behaviour. One set of guides told us that prior to their coming on the scene in 2004, there were toucans, white hawks, several species of flycatchers, black and white king vultures, parrots, egrets, various types of herons, even scarlet macaw; migrant birds of all sorts, including Orioles, also iguana, howler and spider monkey, tyra, coatimundi, jaguarundi, ocelot, margay, squirrels, the three types of wild pig (paca, havelina, and peccary), and the elusive jaguar, whose presence could only be ascertained by the tracks or spoor left on the river banks and trails. Over the years between 2004 and now, practically nothing can be seen with the exception of a few small flycatchers, as the organized NOISY.COM screaming (at times by a hundred or more guests, deliberately prepped by their guides in the buses coming from the dock to the caves) have chased away all the wildlife, and continue to endanger the lives of their guests and others by organized screaming INSIDE the caves. There are a few posts of guests actually boasting about the organized screaming, and apprently supporting it. Wow. Silly, and dangerous. Sooooo...if you want wildlife, this is one rainforest area that has been made devoid of wildlife by the "screamers". You will need to go to the zoo, like we did, and pay to see what you would otherwise see free of cost, and in natural surroundings. Sorry about that - we are wildlife buffs ourselves, in particular, "birders" and we saw ZILCH at the cave site. Wish someone in authority would do something about that - seemed a shame. Nothing like that happens in the other tropical parks in other countries we have visited. One gets the feeling the authorities there would ban the daylights out of anyone who broke their rules. Belize and the cave tubing park need to copy that style, I humbly submit.