Birds Eye View Lodge

My husband and I started out our trip to Belize at the Bird’s Eye View Lodge and we are so glad we did! The location is incredible for bird watching and the staff were friendly and took wonderful care of us. We were able to book a shuttle through them to pick us up at the airport and they took us to the water taxi in Belize City at the end of our time with them. This allowed us to not have to rent a car, which was great. The Lodge has breakfast, lunch, and dinner available for purchase, which we recommend as Crooked Tree village doesn’t have many other dining options. Dinner was our favorite as we got to enjoy fish from the nearby lake and a beef stew with rice and beans. The highlight of our time in Crooked Tree (and one of top experiences in Belize overall) was taking the early morning boat ride with Leonard. We got to see more than 75 different species of birds, including the rare Agami Heron and a pair of Sungrebes. Leonard is a friendly and knowledgeable guide and went above and beyond to make sure we got to see all the area had to offer. If we ever have the chance to return to Belize, we will definitely stay at Bird’s Eye View Lodge again!

Famous eco-lodge on a lagoon. This is a somewhat aged property, with cozy but often peculiar rooms (beds are constructed out of immovable concrete and tile). Air conditioning works pretty well. Naturalists working out of Birds Eye provide outings all over northern Belize. We took advantage of this with a dawn boat tour (wonderful!), and bird-watching outings to Lamanai and La Milpa (the latter is a restricted area not open to the general public) as well as drives to the "Community Baboon Preserve" (actually Howler Monkey). Our naturalist, Michael Gillett, was terrific. He spent the entire week with us, and did transfers at the beginning and end of our stay. Birds Eye View has buffet meal service for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, with enough variety to suit most tastes. Each room is assigned a table, and you can arrange to sit with other people in your group. Various items are available very early in the morning for take-along on outings (we had baloney, cheese, and white bread sandwiches for breakfast one day). The kitchen staff is incredible. Kayaks and canoes are available for guest use. The pool was being maintained (and unavailable) during our stay. Crooked Tree Village has a smattering of very informal restaurants, a "Chinese" grocery store, a new supermarket, and a small handful of other lodgings (see my review for Beck's B&B). Roads are dirt, farm animals greet you from peoples' yards, but everyone is incredibly warm and friendly.

Staff very accommodating. Our room facing lagoon second floor was spacious with unparalleled views, good AC, clean and quiet. Leonard knows all about the history of Belize, the geography, and yes the birds. He pointed out several life birds for us by sound right on the property. We found 100 species within the village in 3 days. That’s without a boat ride (our target birds left the lagoon due to flooding). This place is easy to do self drive, hour from the airport. Merlin, eBird, and Birds Eye staff can find you muy birds! We’ll come back for the Jabiru during drier times.