A Working Vacation in Belize
Visit Belize and participate in an avian rescue and rehabilitation this Thanksgiving. By enrolling in the “Toucon tour,” you can work with the Casa Avian Support Alliance avian rescue and rehabilitation program. Help with on-site nest-box building, general maintenance and feeding as well as habitat restoration, nature trail building, wild bird identification and signage.
Lodging is at Casa del Caballo Blanco eco lodge, which has six casitas on its 23 scenic hilltop acres near San Ignacio. (It shares space with the avian center.) Meals are served in a thatched-roof dining area using local produce and traditional local recipes. Also included are visits to the major Mayan ceremonial site of Tikal, tubing through Xibalba, the Mayan underworld of the Caves Branch River.
The four-night Thanksgiving package is $815 per person including accommodation, most meals, planned outings and on-site volunteer work with the various ongoing avian support projects. Excluded are local taxes, optional activities and service charges. Operation of the lodge and its avian project, both not for profit, depends partly on guest revenues from the lodge s as well as volunteer participation.
“Habitat destruction, the effects of global warming and the illegal poaching and capture of exotic birds are real world problems. The work we do here seeks to understand and support the biodiversity of Belize that attracts and sustains over 530 species of migratory and resident birds spotted in a given year,” explains lodge owner Vance Bente.
This is the first avian “voluntourism” program of its kind in Belize. It has been endorsed by the Rainforest Alliance sustainable Tourism Program, Belize Audubon Society, Friends for Conservation and Development and Birds Without Borders.
For more information, see www.casaavian.org. For information on year-round educational programs and vacation packages, please visit www.casacaballoblanco.com or call 707-974-4942.