For those of you who aren’t familiar with this developing story, Liz and I recently posted a story about our encounter with a baby howler monkey named Jack only to be contacted by several conservation groups who informed us of the unfortunate details of this monkey’s disposition. We later altered the post to remove our photos with the monkey and posted a new public service announcement to inform people of the horrors associated with this “pet monkey.” Our efforts have had remarkable results as can be seen in the email below from one of our contacts in Belize.

Good luck to Jack the monkey, Jerry, Robin Brockett and anyone else involved in today’s attempt to seize Jack to save him. We hope you are successful.

“Courtney and Liz

Been up since 02:00 hrs preparing for today. Just to let you know that we are just about to leave with the Forestry Department and a Police / Army squad to try and seize your young monkey Jack.

I will be accompanied by Robin Brockett who is the world renowned monkey rehabber that we are extremely fortunate to have in Belize at the moment.

If we get Jack, then this little fellow will join a small troupe of monkeys currently being prepared for release (although this will take up to two years). At the moment Jack’s future is now considerably brighter than it was before you raised awareness of his plight. He will now be socialised with other monkeys as well as get veterinary care, and of course get the correct monkey food. He will also be released into an approved area where he should be safe from all but the most determined poachers. (And as he is a male the chances are that he will never be targeted by poachers)

If we are successful today, I think you will be able to say that you were directly responsible for saving this monkey, as Forestry admitted to me on Friday, that if your story had not been published on the web, then they probably would not have done anything about him. As his plight is now a matter of public record, they have had their hand forced in this matter and we now have a strong response.
I think the way that you two have handled this matter has been exemplary and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the correction to your website and for the increased awareness that has resulted.

Fingers crossed, I will let you know what happens later on today.

Jerry”

Liz and I stopped off at Big Rock Falls after our visit of Caracol. With little gas and a lot of nerve, we deviated from the main road for just a couple of miles on our way back to San Antonio and then to Table Rock Jungle Lodge.

The deviation took us past Five Sisters Lodge and down a road we just didn’t know would lead to a destination. Once we got there, we had to guess at the trail as a few sort of led in almost the same direction. We headed out, video loaded and recorded every step of the way. This video shows a few highlights of the visit.

All of this was shot with the V.I.O. POV (except the stills) that I picked up from Backcountry.com I took copious amounts of video with this thing and if it weren’t for human error, I would have had some awesome footage of the trip to ATM. Grab your own…

Here is a video from our zip lining trip at Jaguar Paw. While we weren’t totally bowled over with the resort itself, Kent and Harrison were great guys and they gave us a really nice private zip line tour. They were patient with us; especially with my technical issues. I think they might have even been a little bit amused by our enthusiasm and silliness. Enjoy the video:

Jack. Jack is the howler monkey that brought huge smiles to our faces at Caracol, one of the Mayan Ruins. As a side note, we skipped out on Xunantunich and decided to do Caracol due to some influences by locals, or should I say, Chris and Jen from Table Rock Jungle Lodge. Chris and Jen recommended this ruin over the others and that is a separate post in itself. We will get to it, I promise! But I will tell you, it was AMAZING!!!

I told Courtney before we went, I want to see a monkey in the wild. I knew there was a good chance of that going to Belize. I have dreamed about monkeys since I was a little girl. So much in fact, that I painted one on my childhood bedroom wall. And tigers too! They are still on my list to see in real life (not just in a zoo, I want wild!!!)

Anyhow, we happened upon Thursday to Caracol to run into some baboons with no plans to see wild monkeys. We headed to Caracol, and as we approached the Mayan ruins after parking our car, we heard rambunctious noises coming from the jungle. Noises that sounded like a predator in battle with it’s prey. I didn’t know what to think of it untill the soldiers who assited us (again, another post in itself) told us that the sounds were coming from baboons (or howler monkeys) nearby. “Monkeys!?” I was so excited. “Will I get a chance to see these monkeys?!” “Yes, we can take you there after the next ruin.” After exploring a few ruins and patiently waiting for Courtney to climb one of the ruins in the second common ground, we finally started to approach the sounds we heard coming from the jungle. My heart was racing. I looked up into the trees from where the sounds were echoing and saw branches moving ever so slightly. On those branches, I saw itty bitty monkeys. THOSE LITTLE ANIMALS WERE MAKING ALL THAT RACKET? Are you serious? I couldn’t believe my ears!! They were little black monkeys hanging around the trees and trying to climb closer to us in curiosity of their new found friends. The sounds died down as they swung the branches above and worked closer to us to explore us. We admired and ooed and awed and tried to coax them closer to us, but they would only go so far. Courtney took several photos, trying to zoom in as much as possible.

The gallery below features our photos:

Piggy Backing on Courtney’s Post: Zip Lining in Belize: Part 1 of 2: We headed to the zip-line area after the black out and we  were guided by a nice worker there to the area. Along the way, there was a large pavilion which at first I believed to be the zip-lining site, but this seems to be more of the “break” area for the zip-line workers there. We met Harrison and Kent. They were both really nice gentleman and extremely patient with us as Courtney attempted a couple of different ways to mount the camera on the helmet from the front. While Courtney worked on mounting the camera, Kent helped me gear up. Soon after, Harrison worked on Courtney and later allowed Courtney to use his personal helmet to try and mount the camera. After a few attempts and realizing he did not bring the zip ties, he mounted the camera with a few piece of duct tape and we continued on with our journey.

Harrison and Kent led us up a trail with a buncha stairs to our first launch site. They told us a few tricks to zip-line and then we were off! We soared from ramp to ramp above the Belize jungle. We soared, we laughed, we giggled, we squealed. It was an absolute blast and an incredible experience. I had been waiting years to do this. Since I was a little girl. It was everything I ever dreamed of. Although, I wish it lasted longer! It took us about 20-30 minutes to complete the course. But it was worth it!

Here are the photos. Look for video in the near future!