Belize

América del Norte

Capital: BelmopanNovember to April

227

Documented species

8

Parks and reserves

7

Dive sites

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Belize keeps a very high proportion of forest for the region and protects around a third of its territory, between land and marine reserves. Off its coast runs the longest barrier reef in the western hemisphere, with cayes, atolls and the Great Blue Hole, an underwater sinkhole more than three hundred metres across formed when the sea level was far lower. Inland, the Maya Mountains and the Chiquibul forest hold jaguars, tapirs, pumas and Belize's only scarlet macaw population, while the northern lowlands combine savannahs, lagoons and mangroves. The underground rivers running through the limestone formed caves that the Maya considered entrances to the underworld.

The nature of Belize

National animal: Baird's tapir is the national animal; the keel-billed toucan is the national bird

Did you know?

The Cockscomb basin was declared in 1986 the first protected area in the world created specifically to conserve the jaguar. The initiative grew out of the fieldwork of a zoologist who spent two years tracking the cats through the Belizean forest, and the model has since been replicated in several American countries with the aim of keeping a continuous corridor for the species from Mexico to Argentina.

Biodiversity profile

America Central (hotspot de Mesoamerica)Dato no disponible con precision agregada en fuentes verificadas consultadas

Climate

  • •Tropical humedo (Af/Am), con estacion seca marcada en el norte

Main biomes

  • •Bosque tropical de la Peninsula de Yucatan
  • •Bosque de pino de tierras bajas y premontano (Belizean pine forests)
  • •Manglares costeros (Belizean Coast mangroves)
  • •Arrecife barrera
  • •Selva tropical húmeda
  • •Manglar costero
  • •Sabana de pinos
  • •Karst y cueva
  • •Laguna costera
  • •Bosque ribereño

Marine and coastal ecosystems

  • •Sistema Arrecifal Mesoamericano (segundo arrecife de barrera mas grande del mundo tras la Gran Barrera australiana, Patrimonio Mundial)
  • •Habitat clave para tortugas marinas y manaties

Flagship wildlife

Notable endemic species

  • •El bosque de pino de Belice comparte especies con Mexico y Guatemala, con endemismo moderado tipico de bosques de coniferas neotropicales

Notable threatened species

  • •Manati antillano (Vulnerable, poblacion importante en cayos y lagunas costeras)
  • •Tortugas marinas (varias especies En Peligro, dependientes del Sistema Arrecifal Mesoamericano)

Notable protected areas

  • •Parque Nacional Chiquibul (mas de 1.000 km2 de selva)
  • •Gran Arrecife Azul (Blue Hole, Patrimonio Mundial)
  • •Santuario de Vida Silvestre de Cockscomb Basin
  • •Sistema de Reservas de la Barrera de Arrecife
  • •Gran Agujero Azul
  • •Reserva Forestal de Chiquibul
  • •Santuario de Babuinos de la Comunidad
  • •Reserva Marina de Hol Chan

Main conservation threats

  • •El bosque de pino de Belice tiene estatus de conservacion critico/en peligro segun WWF
  • •Expansion agricola y ganadera
  • •Huracanes frecuentes (Belice forma parte del corredor de huracanes centroamericano)
  • •Degradacion de manglares por desarrollo costero

Notable natural phenomena

  • •Alta frecuencia historica de huracanes (65 huracanes/tormentas tropicales en 60 años en la region fronteriza con Guatemala y Honduras)

Conservation

The community howler monkey sanctuary, created by private landowners who agreed to keep strips of forest on their holdings, allowed the species to recover and to be reintroduced elsewhere in the country. The reef came off the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2018 after oil prospecting was banned.

Where and when to watch wildlife

Cockscomb year-round for jaguar tracks and forest birds. Hol Chan and Gladden Spit between March and June for whale sharks. The northern lagoons in the dry season for manatees.

Sources: EBSCO Research Starters - Ecosystems of Central America and the Caribbean | Wikipedia - Belizean Coast mangroves / Belizean pine forests | CEPF - Mesoamerica hotspot

RainforestMountainOcean

Diving and snorkelling

Atoll

Glover's Reef

An oval coral formation rising from more than 660 m of water and enclosing a lagoon of some 260 km² with more than 700 patch reefs inside it. It is the least visited of the Belizean atolls and much of it remains unexplored.

View dive siteSinkhole

Great Blue Hole

A cave whose roof collapsed millennia ago and which then flooded. It forms an almost perfect circle some 300 m across at the surface and drops vertically to around 124-125 m. Recreational diving reaches 40 m, the depth at which the stalactites appear: the largest formations of their kind ever found underwater.

View dive siteWall

Half Moon Caye Wall

The wall at the south-eastern tip of Lighthouse Reef, reckoned one of the most beautiful in the Caribbean. The island that gives it its name is a mere 17 hectares.

View dive siteReef cut/Reserve

Hol Chan Marine Reserve

Belize's first marine park (1987); a natural cut in the reef concentrates exceptional biodiversity in a small area.

View dive siteReef/Wall

Turneffe Atoll

The largest of the three atolls and the closest to the Belizean coast. It is dominated by mangrove islands, which act as nurseries for almost all the reef's fauna. The Elbow, at its southern tip, is a legendary drift.

View dive siteReef/Tunnel

Ambergris Caye

Home of Shark Ray Alley and the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, with coral tunnels and guaranteed encounters with rays.

View dive siteSecondary sinkhole

Blue Hole (Turneffe)

A smaller karst sinkhole within Turneffe Atoll, a less crowded alternative to the Great Blue Hole at Lighthouse Reef.

View dive site

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Keep exploring

Based on what we already know about Belize.

ParkGreat Blue Hole (Blue Hole National Park)BuceoGlover's Reef