The Lodge at Big Falls

About the lodge

The Lodge at Big Falls, close to Punta Gorda, in Toledo, southern Belize, is the district's premier inland resort. Vacation packages offer guests easy access to natural wonders, archaeological treasures and a host of adventures. Packages include eco-tours which will introduce you to the local Mayan people and culture, Mayan archaeology and the natural history of the area. Birding packages offer you a variety of habitats and an amazing range of resident and visiting species.

If you are looking for a southern Belize adventure vacation then the Lodge has jungle trekking, caving, river kayaking and snorkeling, fishing and manatee watching on the offshore cayes.

The Lodge offers elegant accommodation, fine food and drink and relaxation in a peaceful riverside setting. An unforgettable holiday experience.

The Setting
The Lodge at Big Falls is situated on the banks of the Rio Grande river in Belize's southern Toledo District. The property is located on a meander of the river with almost a mile of river frontage. There are views towards the Maya Mountains to the north west while the south eastern bank faces the village of Big Falls. However, there are no "big falls" in Big Falls. This is just the name of the village!

The Lodge is an intimate family run lodge with just six (6) thatched cottage style cabanas. Each cabana has a queen size double and either an extra single bed or full size bunks for family accommodation.

The Lodge has a full service restaurant and bar and is a licensed tour operator offering a wide range of tours and activities within its packages which include a mix of natural history (birds, butterflies, moths and animals), adventure (kayaking, snorkeling, caving and hiking) and cultural encounters with local people.

Cabanas
Spacious cabanas have been designed to achieve a living space which subtly merges the internal and external environments. The rooms are all individual cottage style cabanas (sleeping up to four persons) with a full en-suite bathroom providing hot and cold water. Each cabana is thatched with bay-leaf palm, a traditional Belizean thatching material. Beautifully tiled floors, ceiling fans and fully screened, wood louvered windows offer a cool well-ventilated living area. Colorful local and regional soft furnishings complete the décor, many of which will be available to purchase in the gift shop. Landscape plantings around the cabanas have been selected to attract birds and butterflies close to the guest's living space and this wealth of flora and fauna can be enjoyed from your own thatched veranda. The Lodge will deliver your choice of juice, coffee or other drinks to your veranda each morning where you can sit and enjoy the cool air or survey the early bird activity.

Dining
The Lodge is covered by a high thatched ceiling and accommodates a full service restaurant and bar. Lodge meals offer a range of local and international dishes, with vegetarian, vegan, kashrut and children's alternatives.

Local dishes include the Belizean national dish. Stewed chicken with recado spice, coconut rice, stewed beans and fried plantain. The Lodge is incorporating local vegetables more and more into its menu. These include calaloo (amaranth, a vegetable with similar properties to spinach and cooked in similar ways), pumpkin, yam, chocho and the heart of the cohune palm which is used to make cohune cabbage a curry made from the pCaryn and Joe at the baralm.

International dishes include a number of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes including Lebanese mezzeh dishes such as baba ghanoush, hummus and tabbouleh.

The Lodge makes its own bread, cinnamon rolls, yogurt, ice cream and freshly baked cakes and desserts.

A well stocked bar offers a wide selection of cocktails, fruit and soft drinks as well as beer and wine. From the main veranda, you can enjoy beautiful sunsets while sipping an ice cold drink.

Activities
The Lodge has many on-site activities. Guests enjoy a game of table tennis on the veranda after a day's tour. The new swimming pool and kayaks and inner tubes on the river ensure that guests are always able to stay cool. For self-guided tours of Big Falls and its neighborhood mountain bikes are also available for guests' use. The Lodge also offers badminton, horse shoes and frisbees for guests to enjoy the grassy areas surrounding the lodge and cabanas. For more information regarding activities at the lodge, please explore the link above.

Resource Center
In the Resource Center guests can consult a core collection of books covering birding, butterflies, the fauna and flora of Belize, Mayan archaeology and travel and touring within Belize. Guests also have internet access and a listening station for Stonetree Records which publishes a wide range of Belizean musicians whose CDs are on sale at the Lodge. The Resource Center exists to:
* Allow guests to read more about the places, people, flora and fauna they may have seen during the day's excursions and develop their knowledge and understanding of Belize and its natural environment;
* Allow guests to travel light - but if birding is an interest, do bring your own field guide to carry with you on day tours;
* Introduce guests to books they may want to read on their return home. The on-site gift shop carries a selection for purchase;
* Provide a quiet area so that researchers and educationalists may combine work and pleasure during their stay at the Lodge.

The Location
Big Falls lies at the end of the Southern Highway eighteen miles inland from Punta Gorda, the district capital. The lodge's location provides easy access to all sites and places of interest within Toledo (journey times are usually less than one hour) as well as attractions further north such as the Scarlet Macaw breeding area at Red Bank and the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve. There is also easy access to the cayes and coastal parks such as Payne's Creek in the Port Honduras Marine Reserve twenty miles north of Punta Gorda. The Guatemalan towns of Livingston and Puerto Barrios are just seventy minutes ride by skiff across the Bay of Honduras.