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The level expanses of northern Belize are a mixture of farmland and
rainforest, dotted with swamps, savannahs and lagoons. The largest
settlement in the region is Orange Walk, the country's main centre
for sugar production. Further north, just 15 minutes from the border
with Mexico, Corozal is a small and peaceful Caribbean town,
strongly influenced by Maya and mestizo culture. Most of the
original settlers in the north were refugees from the Caste Wars in
Yucatán, and thus Spanish is more widely spoken than Creole.
Most visitors to northern Belize come to see the Maya ruins
and wildlife reseres. The largest site, Lamanai,
sered by regular boat tours along the New river Lagoon,
features some of the most impressive pyramids in the country. East
of Lamanai, Altun Ha, reached via the old Northern Highway,
is usually visited as a part of a day-trip from Belize City or San
Pedro. The smaller sites include Cuello, just west of Orange
Walk, and Santa Rita and Cerros, both near Corozal.
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 Belize
travel guide
Caribbean
guide
The most northerly of the wildlife reserves is the Shipstern
Nature Reserve, close to the village of Sarteneja. Further
south, at the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, a network of
rivers and lagoons offers protection to a range of migratory birds,
and at the Bermudian Landing Community Baboon Sanctuary a
group of farmers have combined agriculture with conservation to the
benefit of the black howler monkey. By far the largest and most
ambitious conservation project, however, is the Rio Bravo
Conservation Area, comprising one thousand square kilometers of
tropical forest and river systems in the west of Orange Walk
district.
traveling
around the north is fairly straightforward if you stick to the main
Northern Highway, covered by bus services every hour from 5am to 7pm
between Belize City and Chetumal in Mexico, calling at Orange
Walk and Corozal on the way.
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