Grab an innertube, hike about a mile and a half/two miles through a lovely jungle, and toss your tube into the crystal clear water... drift down stream INTO UNDERGROUND CAVES. Yes... it's really as cool as it sounds. These caves are HUGE. Bring a head-lamp that is water proof (good thing to have in the tropics anyway), and you can see underground caves, formaitons, and waterfalls.. then erupt back into the tropical sunlight that feels like the Jungle Book... and then float back underground itno another huge cave.

There are generally guided tours of these things, although once you do it once, you can do it again on your own. We hired a guy at the parking area for the one we did, and he ended up being our guide for the rest of the trip.

That's the other thing... the people are very friendly... and very poor. Food and services like guides are pretty cheap if you go native. The cave tubeing was magical, and still one of my favorite experiences ANYWHERE so you have to do it. I demand it.

Belize also has a "babboon" sanctuary. There are, of course, no babboons outside of Africa or zoos, but the babboons in Belize think the Howler Monkeys they have are babboons... Anyway, they make an impressive roar and although we came too late in the evening to see them, they ARE there and they give guided tours if you get there earlier than we did (after sundown). We still got the guided tour (bribes work) but only got to talk with the angry male monkey who sounded like a lion... never saw him just the tree he was shaking to intimidate us. That was OK, but I'd recommend you learn from us and NOT spend your days hunting for monkeys (we called our trip the quest for monkeys because we went to all these jungles in southern mexico and Belize, hoping to see our first wild monkeys, and not a single damn monkey was to be found... Of course every person we talked to had just ridden a jaguar through crowds of monkeys and aligators...

Fortunately, I later went to Costa Rica and Thailand... Two countries where they give out free monkeys when you step off the plane, so not only did I get my fix, I was completely monkey-jaded by the end of those trips, slipping monkeys a few bucks to steal chips from (and fling poo at) other eco-tourists).

But for all it's wilderness, the most exciting wildlife we saw in Belize were Jesus Christ lizards, so named because they stand up on their hind legs and run across the water, making you shout "Jesus CHRIST!" as you fumble for your camera trying to get a photo.

There was also a place we visited called "blue hole" which was essentially a natural spring that emerges with amazing blue water in the middle of a cave/hole in the ground in the middle of jungle. It was lovely, but not worth the drive, or the amazing mass of mosquitos that were there.