New Belize All-Inclusive Adventure Tour is Great Freedom Adventures’ First International Trip
Sherborn, MA, July 19, 2016 – Great Freedom Adventures, known as an expert provider of multi-day biking, walking and active tours in the USA, announces their first international tour – Rainforests, Ruins and Reefs, A Belize Adventure Travel Vacation. The tours are unique in that Great Freedom Adventures utilizes exclusive contacts to provide guests with access to private and pristine areas in the less-traveled southern part of the country. These include a primary rainforest preserve and wildlife sanctuary, a Mayan ceremonial cave, and a private island located within a U.N.E.S.C.O World Heritage Site and Belize’s largest marine reserve. This stunning caye sits on the world’s second largest barrier reef in a marine zone containing some of the healthiest and most abundant marine and coral life along the reef. The eight-day, seven-night all-inclusive tour has three departures for 2017: January 14, February 18 and March 25.
Participants spend the first three nights in the rainforest at Cotton Tree, an eco-lodge located within a rainforest preserve and set along the banks of the Moho River. Rustic luxury is provided by handcrafted rosewood and thatch cabanas with private baths and by the delicious meals prepared with fresh ingredients from local farms and from the lodge’s own organic garden.
The tour includes a remarkable wealth of activities as well as explorations of past Mayan civilizations and contemporary culture. On the first half of the tour, guests can walk rainforest trails learning about medicinal plants and viewing exotic flowers and jungle creatures, float through a cave on an underground river, zip-line over tree-tops and rivers, swim in crystalline pools and kayak jungle rivers. Great Freedom Adventures’ guests will visit with Mayan villagers to learn about home life, chocolate making and subsistence farming in the rainforest. A visit to an ancient Mayan site reveals unique carved stone pillars and excavated ruins of plazas and structures from civilizations long gone.
En route to the tropical island portion of the adventure, guests stop at Hopkins, a fishing village with a large Garifuna population and the home of some of the world’s best drummers. There, guests will try their hand at drumming with guidance from an expert drum master and after, enjoy a traditional Garifuna lunch.
The next four nights are spent at IZE resort on South Water Caye, a stunning island that offers the rare opportunity for barrier reef snorkeling just a swim away from the beach. In addition to having unlimited access to swimming, kayaking, paddleboarding and snorkeling, Great Freedom Adventures guests have access to the excellent research facilities at the resort which also happens to be a research field station. From their snorkeling guides, guests learn about the fish, sea mammals and plant life encountered on the reef and once back on the island can extend this knowledge by utilizing the facility’s extensive marine biology research library. Guests may even listen in on a lecture by a visiting marine biologist. “The ability to experience and learn about Belize’s tremendous biodiversity both first hand and through access to the research facilities is a component of Great Freedom Adventures’ tours that adds uncommon value, and increased enjoyment, for guests,” says Jeanne Rummel, Great Freedom Adventures founder.
While on South Water Caye, Great Freedom Adventures’ guests stay in cabanas with private baths that are nestled in the mangroves on the windward side of the island – where cooling trade winds make sleeping comfortable and palm leaves rustle. Each cabana features an oceanside deck from which guests can view the spectacular sight of the sun rising over the barrier reef.
Each morning on the island offers excursions by boat to snorkeling sites teeming with schools of tropical fish and colorful coral gardens. Guests may swim with sea turtles, dolphins, spotted eagle rays, seahorses and more. Additional sightseeing includes a mangrove island that is a critical breeding site for the magnificent frigate bird.
Island afternoons are spent just as each guest prefers and may include kayaking, paddleboarding, swimming, snorkeling, playing volleyball or simply lying on the beach or in a hammock under the coconut palms. As the sun heads toward the horizon, guests head to the waterside bar to enjoy tropical drinks while watching the sea life and the sunset. Expertly prepared meals are taken in the open-air dining room with ocean views.
The Rainforests, Ruins and Reefs Belize Adventure Travel Vacation Package is priced at $2,795 per person based on double occupancy. There is an $895 supplement for single occupancy. The tour includes seven nights lodging, all meals, all domestic flights, all in-country transfers by boat or vehicle, daily guided excursions, use of all sporting equipment, admissions, and Belize country and service taxes. For more information, please visit: Belize All Inclusive Adventure Tour – Rainforests, Ruins and Reefs.