Warrie Head ranch and travel lodge is located just outside Belmopan on the trek from Belize City on the Western Highway in the Cayo District. The lodge sits at the foothills of the Maya Mountains on the banks of the Belize River. The Warrie Head Ranch and Lodge reveals the everyday history of the former British colonial life in Belize in a natural setting.

Warrie Head Ranch and Lodge has 10 rooms that are open to individual travelers or groups. It has an eco-tourism side to it- with natural history, archeological tours, birding, camping, sailing, horseback riding, jungle tours and the Maya ruins tours. On site is a beautifully landscaped tropical garden that houses some historical artifacts from a 19th century Sugar Mill and a 19th century steam engine from the days of logging.

You will be treated very well by the housekeeper, Miss V. She will serve you cool drinks while you rest in a wicker chair on the porch. However, be prepared for dealing with the humidity Belize has to offer as the rooms are not air conditioned. Although, the rooms are spotless, the grounds are fabulous, it’s quiet and private there.

Prices range at about $70 USD per night in-season and from June 1-September 30th you can expect to pay $65 USD a night.

If you want to experience the 19th century British Colonial living, here’s your place to go. However, be informed- before you decide to take a dip in the Belize river- know that there are poisonous snakes and crocodiles in there!

To get more information (they don’t have a website) you can e-mail them at bzadventur@btl.net.

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Where do I begin to explain my happiness in having come across the name of the Table Rock Jungle Lodge? I need to give thanks to a comment from an Ande that brought this lodge to my attention.

There are many things that make me very happy about this lodge. First things first, the price! The lodge has three rooms available, the Aracari Room, Kiskadee Room, and the MotMot Room (the largest cabana). The prices, respectively, are $85/night, $85/night, and $105/night. These prices do not include the service charge. However, THEY DO INCLUDE ACTIVITIES! YAY!

The prices include Swimming, Hiking, Canoeing, Tubing, Birdwatching, Extreme Relaxing and WiFi Internet Access – Are Included FREE of Charge With Your Stay! While this is all great, the tubing and canoeing are on a river right near the lodge that go through the jungle, not through caves. We’ll have to decide if we think it’s necessary to do the cave part of the jungle expedition.

They do, however, offer some of the other adventures at decent prices too: All Regional Adventures are offered through licensed and highly professional local tour operators. Adventure tours are based on a per person rate with a minimum of two persons, and include your licensed guide, transportation, lunch, entrance fees, and equipment. Prices US$25-175 per person. Every room is a thatched roof cabana. And you all should know by now I fancy those!

• Mayan Ruins

• Canoeing/Tubing/Water-Based Adventures

• Caving

• Wildlife Viewing

The meals are also affordable. Breakfast runs at $9, lunch at $6-$12 and dinner at $23 (not including the 10% gratuity). Note: Meals must be ordered in advance. Upon booking they will send you a detailed outline of the time line. Their resident gourmet chef, “Chef Chris”, classically trained in French and Pacific Rim cuisine, dazzles guests with elegant candlelit dinners served outdoors in our stunning open-air dining room. One thing I did notice was the lack of a bar. I don’t see anything on the website or visitor information mentioning a bar (correction: after digging in deeper- doing the virtual tour lists the restaurant/bar together and I do see a bar in the virtual tour). But that’s nothing that a bottle of locally purchased wine on the way down can’t fix, right?

The lodge is located about two hours from Belize City. That is a bit of a hike. They offer transfers at $130 each way. At which point it would make sense to rent a car and maybe stop along the way on our own to some Mayan ruins and or a zip lining expedition and knock one out of the way.

Another thing I really liked was a prompt response to a question I e-mailed to them. They also provided a very thorough response as well. See e-mail:

I came across your website via a recommendation and got really excited. You guys offer most things we are looking for at a very great price. We’re a couple traveling on a budget and looking to spend some time jungle side as well as beachside. Your lodge is very sightly and great with the options of the adventures. I have just a few questions though.

1. Which rooms are available for the 16th, 17th or 18th of September, 2009?

2. Is there a company nearby that offers Zip Lining in the jungle?

3. Do the price of the rooms reflect just the room or is that the price per person?

We are documenting our findings on Lodges and such on our website: www.Belizeantravel.com and we still have yet to find a good lodge in our price range but I believe yours could very well be our winner and I’m excited to hear your reply. Thanks!

Thanks for your interest in Table Rock! As of today, we do have all three of our cabanas available for the nights of 16, 17 & 18 September, so you have your choice. The pricing for these rooms is per room, based on double occupancy, and does not include tax and service charge. Meals and tour pricing is per person, and ground transfers are priced per trip (1-4 people, one-way). The closest zipline available during the summer season is located at Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch Adventure Company, which is about an hour and a half drive from Table Rock (there is a second zipline located a bit closer, but it is currently closed).

I have also attached some additional information about our lodge so that you can get an even better idea of what a stay with us might be like.

(Please note: Payment for your room is required in full to confirm your reservation. If something comes up and you need to cancel all or part of your reservation, and the cancellation is 45 days or more from your arrival date, you will be refunded all but a $50.00 administration fee per room. Cancellations made after this are non-refundable. For this reason, we strongly encourage the purchase of travel insurance.)

Table Rock and Belize are our two favorite topics of conversation, so please feel free to drop us an email with any questions or concerns you may have about your upcoming adventure vacation. We’re happy to help you plan in any way we can. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Best Regards from the Jungle,
Colleen

Alan & Colleen Spring, Proprietors
Table Rock Jungle Lodge
Mile 5 Cristo Rey Road
P.O. Box 179
San Ignacio Town, Cayo District, Belize
Ph:011-501-670-4910
www.tablerockbelize.com
…Rediscover Yourself

Another plus about the Table Rock Jungle Lodge property is that they are an Eco property. They create their own electricity there. Most the fruits they use are grown there. Everything is nature friendly, including the cabanas. All the water they use there is supplied from rainwater and the local village river water, which is purified. It is okay to shower in the water and to use the water daily activities. All of the water is housed in an 8500 gallon reservoir above the property. Due to gravity, the water is pressurized to use rather than an electric or gas pump. While the water is safe to drink, in certain seasons it can contain lime and other minerals. For your convenience, the rooms have purified drinking water in them for your use and ease of mind. Pretty eco friendly here. I like knowing that I could be putting my money towards a good lodge that uses nature friendly approaches to it’s business.

Also, they have a FARM! A Belize farm. They cultivate Valencia Oranges, Key and Tahitian Limes, many varieties of mangoes and coconuts. They also grow their own avocados, guava, chaya, star fruit, grapefruit, jackfruit, breadfruit, caboo, and soursop. (What are half of these?!) They encourage you to walk around the farm and pick the fruit and enjoy it, but only under one condition. If you pick the fruit YOU MUST EAT IT!

Something about this place makes me think Trader Joes. Whenever I go to trader Joes always leave smiling and happy with my purchases. Especially knowing the organics of it. This place will obviously give you that same satisfaction!

This morning while shopping at the R.E.I. Garage sale, Courtney and I got to talking to the guy in front of us in line. After a little while it came up that we were going to Belize (becuase let’s face it, we’re shameless self promoters for the website but we also love to brag about going to Belize to everyone we meet). The guy immediately lit up and started going off about how he had traveled to Belize and loved it. After a bit of an in depth conversation, he recommended highly the Mama Noots Backabush Resort located in the Jaguar Reserve. Here’s my analysis of it:

WAY TOO EXPENSIVE!

Also, the guy mentioned it was a far trip from the airport and they had to rent a car to get there. That just sounds like a whole lot of extra work for an expensive place and sounds very unappealing to me.

I mean really, where do these jungle locations get off charging an arm and a leg? Staying in the jungle is way expensive and Courtney and I have really only been able to find maybe 2 decently priced places but even those were above our budget.

This also reminds me of the conversation I had with a representative from Lamanai Outpost Lodge- which is also located in the jungle. I had contact Lamanai back in early June regarding pricing and lodging and activities with them. A very nice representative from their office in Florida called me. I couldn’t talk to her because I was at work so we moved it to e-mail. She proceeded to let me know the Lamanai is not open in September in Belize:

Ellen,

Thanks for your help.

In Conclusion, I never heard back from this representative, Ellen. She didn’t try to call or e-mail to follow up on trying to help us. I think she just saw how low our budget was and decided there was no profit on her end for trying to help us plan out this trip so she bailed. So on top of Lamanai already being incredibly expensive, their representatives are not helpful at all. I still can’t get over how great Cocotal Inn and Cabanas and Tanya have been!

I have been receiving calls from a nice sales lady representing a property on a southern island off the coast of Belize. She’s been recruiting me pretty heavily to tour their property. I don’t think it’s something that Liz and I are interested in right now. After all, if we’re hunting for a Belizean vacation on a budget, it’s likely that we can’t really afford a vacation property. {big secret – we don’t even own a house yet!}

We're hoping Ambergris Caye isn't quite like this

The sales lady did say something that concerned me. She told me that Ambergris Caye and Placencia are totally overrun by development and urban sprawl. She said better to come down south where nature has not yet been overrun by developers. Of course, she was trying to sell me on their property, but to what extent was she telling the truth? Are Ambergis Caye and Caye Caulker overly developed and overrun with businesses, clubs and tourist traps?

So far, Lizzy and I haven’t found anything to verify these assertions. Everything we’ve seen suggests these islands are still quite peaceful and exotic. Just to be certain, though, we may post a few questions on tripadvisor and Frodors to see if anyone has any insider knowledge.

Belcove Hotel in Belize City, Belize

Well, we found it. A place right for our budget. Courtney and I will be staying in Belize City for one night after we return from the jungles and before catching a very early a.m. motorboat to Ambergris Caye. I came across a recommended place to stay called Belcove Hotel. Belcove hotel is situated right on the cove and has great rates. They have options for single occupancy, double occupancy, single deluxe occupancy, double deluxe occupancy, or triple deluxe occupancy. The budgeted rooms offer a double bed or two single beds with the choice of a private or shared bath with fans for single or double occupancy. The deluxe rooms offer a choice of a double bed or two single beds per room with air condition, cable television with worldwide programming and a private shower and bath ideal for single or double occupancy. Pricing is as follows:

They also offer fishing, diving and inland tour activities packages. You can inquire about those rates on the site. Courtney and I won’t need any packages, we will just need a place to simply crash. We will probably be there less than 12 hours. I think this place seems pretty up our alley for what we are looking for.

Belize City and Reef Helicopter Tour – $ 260.00 Take flight on a helicopter tour to see Belize City as few people ever get to see it! For approximately 25-30 minutes, you’ll enjoy a bird’s-eye view of downtown, the Baron Bliss Lighthouse, the Tourist Village, St. John’s Cathedral and the Swing Bridge. This sightseeing tour will give you an extraordinary experience that very few tourists get to witness!

Another option is the Three Sisters Guest House. It offers similarly priced rooms but with shared bathrooms. It’s another option for a person traveling in Belize City on a budget. It also isn’t located on the water- but it does have high ceilings and a fan. Yes, a fan, not air conditioning. So you guessed it. Ruled out. Courtney wants air conditioning so unless it’s maybe beachfront with that cool ocean breeze is wafting into the rooms, I don’t think he will cave in.