It's tough to spot the endangered black howler monkey in South or Central America anymore, but this is the best place in Belize to find one. The villagers of Bermudian Landing have set up a reserve in the forest near their village (about 30km/19mi west of Belize City), and there's a visitors center with displays about the howler and the 200 other animals and birds in the sanctuary.

This 800 sq km (312 sq mi) forest reserve in western Belize's beautiful, unspoiled mountain country is dotted with waterfalls and teems with wild orchids, parrots, keel-billed toucans and other exotic flora and fauna. The rough forest roads in the reserve are often impassable in the wet season, but it's this inaccessibility which keeps the area pristine for those willing to explore it on foot, horseback or canoe. Excursions include the Rain Forest Medicine Trail (a rainforest walk focused on herbal medicines); Chechem Ha (a recently discovered Mayan cave complete with ceremonial pots); Caracol (a vast, unrestored Mayan city engulfed by jungle); Thousand Foot (Hidden Valley) Falls (a 300m/984ft high silver cascade plunging into a misty valley); and Barton Creek Cave (gaining populartity but still less visited, with skulls and bones and lotsa pottery shards).

Perched at the southern tip of a long, narrow, sandy peninsula in Southern Belize, this laid-back beach town is worth every bump and grind of the dirt roads you need to travel to get here. All commerce and activity used to be carried out by boat, thus the village's 'main street' is just a narrow concrete footpath less than 1m (3ft) wide. The main attractions are the beaches and water sports, but there's also fishing, bird and manatee watching, overnight camping on remote cayes, and excursions to jungle rivers and the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary. The latter is home to jaguars, pumas, ocelots, margays, agoutis, anteaters, armadillos, boa constictors and birds galore.