🇧🇿 Belize · Cayo and the west
The Belize Zoo is one of the best-loved places in the country and, for many, the best way to see the wildlife of its jungles up close. It is not a conventional zoo: it houses only animals native to Belize —jaguars, pumas, tapirs, ocelots, howler monkeys, macaws, harpy eagles and many more—, all rescued, born at the zoo or donated, in large enclosures built into the native jungle.
Its motto, 'the best little zoo in the world', reflects its philosophy: more than displaying animals, it aims to educate Belizeans and visitors about the country's natural wealth and the importance of protecting it. Here you can see up close the elusive jaguar, the curious tapir (Belize's national animal) or the colorful toucan, species that are hard to spot in the wild.
This guide gathers the practicalities of visiting —with the real prices for entrance, tours and accommodation—: how to get there by road from the coast or the west, which animals and trails not to miss, when to go to see them at their most active and how to combine the visit with other destinations. It is an ideal stop for families, nature lovers and anyone who wants to understand Belize's wildlife before (or after) looking for it in the jungle.
The Belize Zoo was born in 1983 in a very particular way. The American Sharon Matola had come to the country to work on a documentary about Belizean tropical wildlife; when the production ended and moved on, she was left in charge of several animals that had been semi-domesticated during filming and could no longer survive on their own in the jungle. Rather than abandon them, Matola decided to care for them, and from that act the zoo arose. What began as an improvised shelter turned into a conservation and environmental education institution of reference in Central America. The zoo specialized in Belize's native fauna and in taking in animals that were rescued, orphaned, confiscated from traffickers or donated, giving them a home in enclosures built into the jungle. Over the years it became a symbol of Belizean environmental awareness, famous for its campaign in defense of the tapir (April the Tapir) and for its educational role with schools across the country. Sharon Matola, its founder and director for decades, was a key figure in conservation in Belize until her death in 2021. The full story is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The country's central and most populous district: home to Belize City, the old settlement of the Baymen, and the starting point for the cayes, the atolls and the Great Blue Hole, the marine heart of the largest barrier reef in the hemisphere.
Read the history of Belize District →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
No zoo in the world was probably born in such an unplanned way. In 1983, a handful of animals that had performed —literally— in front of a film camera were left overnight with no production company, no script and no future. Nobody wanted them, nobody knew what to do with them, and returning them to the jungle meant condemning them to death. The woman who decided to keep them, on a borrowed plot beside the highway, would end up founding, without setting out to, one of the best-loved zoos in Central America.
The Belize Zoo has one of the most endearing and singular origins of any zoo in the world. In 1983, the American Sharon Matola —biologist, former animal trainer and adventurer— was in Belize working on the production of a documentary about the country's tropical wildlife. For the filming, several native animals had been gathered and semi-domesticated, getting them used to human presence.
When the documentary production ended and the crew left, a problem remained: those animals, now used to people and semi-domesticated, could not simply be returned to the jungle, where they would not have survived. Rather than abandon them or put them down, Sharon Matola decided to take charge of them. From that act of responsibility the Belize Zoo was born, almost by accident.
What began as an improvised shelter for a handful of animals grew until it became a conservation and education institution of reference in Central America. The story of the zoo, which arose from the need to care for a few animals orphaned by a documentary, remained part of its identity and its philosophy: giving a home to wildlife that, for one reason or another, can no longer live free.
From the start, the Belize Zoo stood out for a clear and uncommon philosophy: to display only wildlife native to Belize and not to buy animals in order to show them. All its residents are animals that were rescued, orphaned, born at the zoo, donated or confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade. There are no exotic species brought from other continents: the zoo is, in essence, a living showcase of Belizean biodiversity.
This orientation turned the zoo into a refuge. It takes in, for example, 'problem' jaguars that attacked livestock and would have been hunted, orphaned young, injured animals or individuals confiscated from traffickers. Instead of ending up dead or on the black market, they find a home in large enclosures built into the native jungle, reproducing their natural habitat as far as possible.
The result is a zoo that feels more like a walk through the jungle than a traditional exhibition: trails among native vegetation, natural enclosures and educational signage often written with humor and warmth. That combination of conservation, rescue and education earned it the affectionate motto 'the best little zoo in the world'.
Beyond being an animal refuge, the Belize Zoo was conceived as a tool of environmental education for Belizeans themselves. The underlying idea is that people protect what they know and value: if the country's inhabitants get to know their jaguars, tapirs and macaws up close, they will be more willing to defend the jungle that shelters them. That is why the zoo works intensively with schools and communities, and developed alongside it the Tropical Education Center, devoted to educational programs and accommodation.
One of the most famous symbols of that work was the tapir, Belize's national animal. The zoo turned the tapir —known locally as the 'mountain cow'— into the banner of its awareness campaigns, with celebrations as well remembered as the birthday of 'April the Tapir', which served to draw the public in and spread the importance of protecting the species and its habitat. These campaigns, full of affection and creativity, left a mark on generations of Belizeans.
The zoo has also taken part in conservation efforts for threatened species, such as the harpy eagle, one of the most imposing and vulnerable raptors on the continent. So the institution combines three roles: refuge for animals that cannot live free, environmental education center for the country, and player in the conservation of Belizean wildlife.
Sharon Matola ran the Belize Zoo for almost four decades and became one of the most influential figures in conservation in the country. Beyond the zoo, she was a prominent environmental activist: she took part in public debates about projects that threatened Belizean ecosystems —such as certain dams— and earned both admiration and, at times, the opposition of sectors with opposing interests. Her tenacity made her a recognized voice in the defense of nature in Belize.
Matola —whom the international press came to call the 'Jane Goodall of jaguars'— died on March 21, 2021, at the age of 66, and Belize bid her farewell as a national figure. She left an enormous legacy: the zoo that was born from a handful of orphaned animals is today an established institution which, before the pandemic, received some 75,000 visitors a year, half of them Belizeans —above all schools and families who find there a close-up way of getting to know and value their country's wildlife. Her model —exclusively native wildlife, rescued animals, a strong educational emphasis— remains a reference.
Today the Belize Zoo and its Tropical Education Center continue combining animal care, environmental education and conservation, as well as offering experiences such as the night tours. The story of the zoo —from an act of individual responsibility to a national institution— sums up well the conservationist spirit that has made Belize a destination known for its nature and for the care of its biodiversity.
The plot where Sharon Matola settled her first rescued animals was modest: barely a clearing beside what was then the Western Highway, the road connecting Belize City with the interior of the country. There was no master plan and no international funding; there was, above all, the determination of a woman who did not want those animals to die or end up in the hands of traffickers. With enclosures built by hand, often from recycled materials and with the help of volunteers, the zoo grew enclosure by enclosure, year after year.
Over the decades, that small roadside initiative turned into an internationally recognized institution. The zoo began receiving support from conservation organizations, research grants and the attention of nature media, which pointed to it as an uncommon example of a zoo focused exclusively on native wildlife and on rescue, on a continent where many zoos still displayed exotic species brought from elsewhere. The international press —from National Geographic documentaries to features in major newspapers— visited Mile 29 to tell the story of Matola and her animals.
Today the grounds include, besides the exhibition enclosures, the Tropical Education Center, with its own trails, dorms and cabins for educational programs and visitor accommodation. The infrastructure still favors integration with the native jungle over scale: the Belize Zoo never sought to be big, but to stay true to its original purpose of giving a home to animals that could not live free and of teaching Belize —and the world— to value its own wildlife.