BANANA BANK LODGE

When they first arrived in Belize nearly 30 years ago, Montana cowboy John Carr and his wife, Carolyn, ran Banana Bank Lodge and Jungle Equestrian Adventure (tel. 501/820-2020, bbl@starband.net, www.bananabank.com) as a working cattle ranch. Today, most of the pastures have been converted to fields for growing corn and beans (or allowed to turn back to jungle), and the ranch now hosts their lodge. Although the place has electricity and a phone, it retains the ambience of the tropical ranch it used to be.

Rooms, suites, and cabanas are fanciful, no two are alike, and most have beautifully funky bathtubs. The food is great, served family-style. Five cabanas each sleep up to six people, and five more rooms in the main house, three with shared bathroom, accommodate guests. One of the rooms with private bath is furnished with a waterbed. There are a couple of new poolside rooms as well (underneath the geodesic dome), and Internet access. Breakfast is included in the room rate. Lunch is US$10, dinner US$15.

Half of the 4,000-acre ranch is covered in jungle, and within its borders guests will discover not only a wide variety of wildlife but a respectably sized Maya ruin. Scattered around the property are many more small archaeological “house mounds.” The ranch’s lagoon, hand-dug centuries ago, today harbors several Morelet’s crocodiles and a bevy of frogs, happily croaking away.

With more than 130 saddle horses (always increasing, as John can’t pass up buying a good animal), Banana Bank features horseback riding, but is also a place to bird-watch, fish, hike, or take a boat trip down the Belize River with plenty of time left for a cooling swim—in the river or the on-site swimming pool. A lazy ride via horse-drawn buggy into the surrounding countryside is another treat, as is nighttime stargazing through a massive 14” telescope.

There is also a zoo of sorts, which includes an aviary, a resident jaguar, and a couple of monkeys; most of the animals were given to the Carrs to care for. (Some were orphaned and others were pets who had outworn their welcome and could not live on their own in the wild.) The Carrs actively involve the local communities of Belizeans in their operation, and even host a soccer team. Carolyn is considered one of the country’s premier artists, and if you admire her on-site studio and gallery, be sure to seek out her paintings in the House of Culture in Belize City.

Banana Bank feels isolated, but is easily accessed, located right across the Belize River, a mile or so north of the Western Highway as it passes Belmopan at Mile 47. Park your vehicle to the right under the trees, ring the gong, and amble down to the dock—shortly, someone will pull a boat along the rope stretched from bank to bank to fetch you. If you miss the first turnoff road, there’s another past Roaring Creek Village at Mile 56, on the right. The sign says to take the road to the ferry, cross the river, and proceed to the ranch—a total of four miles.