Fairchild Tropical Garden

In 2005 a seed took root in northwestern Belize. This was the year that the Spanish Creek Rainforest Reserve sprouted from the rich calcareous soils of Belize and began the road to sustainable living in the American Tropics. I traveled to Belize this first week of March 2010 to visit Spanish Creek and to experience first-hand the project and what is possible with a bit of ingenuity and hard work.

Walk About

We arrived to Belize by way of Miami and went to the farm and reserve, some 45 minutes northwest of the Belize City airport. I traveled with Mr. Marc Ellenby of Florida. Marc is a South Florida tropical fruit grower and the founder and visionary behind the project.

I immediately fell back to a feeling of familiar safety at the sights, smells and sounds of the Belize countryside on the outskirts of Belize City – I was transported back to my teenage year in Honduras and the Central American coast. The dry Caribbean forest and nearby ocean heightened my senses and cleared my mind. We drove through swampy lands of paurotis palm and hardwood hammocks, pine scrub and slow moving rivers. As we drove deeper inland the forests grew in stature with the increasing moisture until we arrived at the site on Spanish Creek.

We had a few hours before darkness and I took a walk about in the newly-planted orchards of avocado, jackfruit and bamboo. The animals of the forest called to me, with the parrots and the howler monkeys providing a wild Belize chorus for my enjoyment. Several troops of monkeys competed in the late afternoon light with their guttural calls. Primeval and immensely satisfying their calls put me at ease. I walked and listened to the animals and the forest, drinking in the noisy tranquility. There are sounds and there are sounds, and those of nature have never disturbed me; to the contrary, they have always been a necessary part of my life.

The living quarters (palapas) were neat, tidy and inviting and I found time to sit on a hammock, carve a bit and watch a tarantula hawk search the nearby ground for a concealed hole. The tarantula hawk is not a bird, but rather a large wasp that feeds on tarantulas that hide in their subterranean dens. I gave a healthy distance, remembering run-ins with the iridescent hymenoptera from my teenage year in Honduras.

We talked and ate and I look forward the coming day full of adventure. I was welcomed by the forest and my hosts – I had arrived at Spanish Creek Rainforest Reserve.

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