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Ek' Tun
is a small, secluded and very beautiful jungle lodge on the banks of the
Macal River.
Ek' Tun can only be
reached by boat crossing over the Macal.
Lodging
is in one of two natural thatched (and quite well-appointed)
cabanas with large bath (hot and cold water), sitting area,
queen-sized beds and terrace.
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Phyllis Dart, Ek' Tun's owner and caretaker (her preferred
descriptor), is a professional landscaper, so Ek' Tun's
grounds are beautiful, with a wide variety of exotic
jungle plantings.
However, only a small portion of
the Ek' Tun property has been "tamed" - with most of its 300
acres still pristine and untouched. (A bushwacking
and cave exploration adventure on the Ek' Tun grounds is a
guest favorite.)
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And then there's the
pool - formed by a small branch of the Macal River, framed by
Phyllis' landscaping, and bounded by large boulders found on the
Ek' Tun property. Some guests believe the pool has magical powers.
Magical powers or
no, it's one of the most beautiful swimming pools to be found in
Belize -- or elsewhere.
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And if
all this beauty and seclusion weren't enough, Ek' Tun is a bird
haven, including the orange-breasted falcon (globally endangered),
Emerald Toucanets, Violaceous Trogons,
White Hawks, Grey Hawks, Keel-billed Toucans, Collared
Ariçari, Trogons and the Spectacled Owl, just
to name a few that can be seen from the cabana and main lodge
terraces.
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In short, Ek' Tun is
the perfect spot for a romantic honeymoon or anniversary, quiet
contemplation to escape the trials and tribulations of the "real"
world -- or to just bask in the natural beauty of place.
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Stone Steps at Poolside |
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Overlooking the Macal River |

Lodge Grounds |
Upper-moderate price tier.
Contact us
for more information. |
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Chan Chich has the ambiance,
furnishings and gentility of an English officer's outpost in the jungle
of a strange, but beguilingly exotic new world.
Perhaps Chan
Chich comes by that ambiance honestly. The Lodge itself is
located within the plaza of an ancient Mayan ruin.
And, the land
on which the lodge is located was once part of the property of Belize
Estates Company, a British-owned timbering and logging operation that
owned about 1/5 of what was then British Honduras.
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The
Chan Chich Jungle Lodge is now part of almost 250,000 acres of
tropical forest under special management and protection by The Programme for Belize (steward of the Rio Bravo lands north of Chan
Chich) and the Gallon Jug Estate, both carved out of the former
Belize Estates Company ownings.
(Gallon Jug Estate
was named in 1943 by logging foreman Austin Felix who found three
old gallon jugs at the site of a new high bush logging camp
established in the area.)
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Birding is one of the primary activities at Chan Chich, which has
the distinction of having the highest Christmas bird count in
Belize and the fifth highest in Central America.
Chan Chich has also
been recognized as "Wilderness Retreat of the Year" by
Andrew Harper's prestigious "Hideaway Report" and has been
featured in recent issues of both Conde Naste and National
Geographic Traveler magazines. |
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Chan Chich boasts a 9-mile trail system
that passes through several distinct forest
subcategories of the general subtropical moist forest designation as the Chan
Chich forest is scientifically
categorized.
Other activities
include driving and
bird watching tours to other parts of
the extensive Gallon Jug Estate, as
well as night walks and night drives,
horseback riding, canoeing and exploring the many unexcavated
Mayan sites in the area. (An extensive
Maya site lies just off the Blue Creek Road, about a mile
from Gallon Jug - - a nice horseback
ride from the Lodge.) |
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Upper
price tier.
Contact us for more information. |
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(Please
contact us for more information on the hotels and resorts
described on our Website. Also, we'd like to help you with booking
your lodging -- not only can we help you assess which lodging is the
best for you, we can take care of all your Belize transfers and other
details to keep your Belize vacation worry free.) |
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