Join us for our sixth tour season in Honduras, a land of mountains and forests, beaches and coral reefs, mangroves and wilderness, diverse cultural heritage and a unique colonial history. For many years, as we toured such Central America countries as Belize, Panama and Mexico, we heard about Honduras and its fast growing reputation as a land of ancient Mayan temples and pyramids set in pristine rainforests teeming with wildlife. Now, after a series of very successful tours, it is obvious that Honduras is everything we expected and so we have again included it in our 2007 winter tour schedule.
Itinerary
(Breakfast - B, Lunch - L, Dinner – D)
Day 1
Arrival at San Pedro Sula
On arrival at San Pedro Sula International Airport in the late morning, we will be met by our Honduran hosts. We’ll clear customs and immigration and then transfer to our hotel in San Pedro Sula.
o/n Hotel Princess (D)
Days 2–4
Mayan Archaeological Site of Copan
After breakfast, we’ll have a morning visit to the Museum and the Guamilito market in San Pedro Sula. En route to the village of Copan Ruinas there will be a stop for lunch at the Hacienda El Jaral. When we arrive in the village, we’ll have the time to relax and soak up its peaceful atmosphere. With its cobble-stoned streets, white adobe buildings with red tiled roofs, and a large colonial church at the edge of the central plaza, this is a very pleasant, typical village of Honduras. There is also a swimming pool nearby that has been built recently by the hotel for its guests to use.
During the next two days we have planned a number of activities. We’ll have an optional early morning bird walk before breakfast, and then a visit to the world famous ruins of Copan, a Mayan archaeological site that exudes grace and beauty along with a powerful sense of history. We will visit the new museum which houses exceptionally fine Mayan sculptures as well as an exact life-size replica of the beautiful tomb known as “Rosalila”. We will explore the ruins of this huge Mayan commercial centre, which flourished during the Classic Period from 250-900AD, and enjoy the Great Plaza, the Ball Court and Hieroglyphic Stairway, the Acropolis and Las Sepulturas. The wildlife at the site is also extremely good with a well-designed nature trail that takes us into deep forest where such birds as Lineated Woodpecker, Blue-crowned Motmot and Red-capped Manakin may be observed.
During our last full day in the Copan Ruinas area, we are planning to visit a rustic, hillside archaeological site on the other side of the Copan River called Los Sapos. Los Sapos means “the toads” and, when we arrive there, we’ll see the outlines of toads carved into boulders. They are thought to be fertility symbols for the Maya. We’ll have dinner at the Hacienda San Lucas overlooking Copan Valley.
o/n Hotel Plaza Copan, Copan Ruinas (B, L, D)
Day 5
Santa Barbara / Yojoa Lake
We’ll depart for Yojoa Lake after breakfast and, en route, we will stop in Santa Barbara to visit a handicraft centre and help support the work of local artisan women. Panama hats, colourful baskets, woven baskets and other products are produced from such natural fibers as reed, cornhusk, flat rush and palm leaf. Santa Barbara is also well known as a major coffee growing region of Honduras, and is the gateway to Cerro Azul Meambar National Park and Yojoa Lake. This is a park with every habitat from dry tropical forests to humid tropical forests and cloud forests. During our time in this region, we’ll take nature walks along the trails and look for the many neo-tropical birds that live in the epiphyte-laden trees and high canopy.
o/n Hotel Finca Las Glorias (B, L, D)
Day 6
Cerro Azul Meambar National Park
With an early start we’ll leave for the magnificent Azul Meambar National Park which has some impressive cloud forest habitats, as well as dense tropical rainforest in the lower elevations. At the beginning of the day, the forests are usually reverberating with the hoarse roars of the Howler Monkeys. As we walk in the forest we’ll note that the floating gardens of epiphytes give the cloud forest a feeling of lushness. At higher elevations we may see the Green-throated Mountain-gem and the Honduran Emerald, both exquisite hummingbirds. There is a reasonable chance that, if we keep our eyes on muddy parts of the trail, we may encounter tracks of Peccaries, Tapirs and perhaps Ocelot. Cerro Azul Meambar National Park is one of the main protected areas around Yojoa Lake and feeds the lake with its many small rivers that flow from the surrounding mountains.
o/n Hotel Finca Las Glorias (B, L, D)
Day 7
Yojoa Lake
Yojoa Lake is a natural lake, surrounded by massive mountains, including Cerro Santa Barbara, the second highest peak in Honduras at almost 2400 metres. The combination of vegetation and water creates an impressively diverse habitat that is home to many different species of flora and fauna. Just as an example, the area surrounding the lake is home to over 373 species of birds!
We will start the day with an optional early morning bird walk. After breakfast, we’ll continue our explorations with a boat trip across the lake. On the way back to our hotel we will drive through a number of fruit, coffee and sugar cane plantations.
o/n Hotel Finca Las Glorias (B, L, D)
Day 8
Lancetilla Botanical Gardens
Today we continue our journey towards the Caribbean coast of Honduras, an area that is teeming with black water lagoons, tangled swamps and tropical forests. The charming fishing villages and old port towns display the nation’s Caribbean character.
En route we will visit the Lancetilla Botanical Gardens, the second largest tropical botanical gardens in the world. The gardens were founded, over 70 years ago, as an experimental botanical site by the United Fruit Company. As we stroll along the well-marked trail, we will find hardwood, medicinal and ornamental plants as well as tropical fruit trees from all over the world. Numerous tropical birds have also made this huge garden their home. We’ll look for the Kiskadees, Social and Broad-billed Flycatchers in the gardens and Great Antshrikes, White-collared Manakins, and Buff-throated Woodcreepers in the trees beyond. In the late afternoon, after an enjoyable visit to Lancetilla, we’ll continue on to Tela, a coastal town that is the commercial and supply centre for the extensive banana plantations in the region.
o/n Hotel Villas Telamar, Tela (B, L, D)
Day 9
Punta Sal National Park / Los Micos Lagoon
We’ll start to explore the Garifuna coast this morning as we travel to Punta Sal National Park. As part of our exploration of this area, we have arranged for a boat trip through the sheltered bays and lush canals of the saltwater and freshwater wetlands that make up the park. This refuge provides a rich habitat for water birds such as Bare-throated Tiger-herons, Boat-billed Herons, Roseate Spoonbills and abundant marine life.
o/n Hotel Villas Telamar, Tela (B, L, D)
Day 10
La Ceiba
In the morning we will continue our journey along the coast to La Ceiba. The town of La Ceiba is on the edge of the huge Pico Bonito National Park, named after a tall mountain that towers over the countryside, and which includes a very large and diverse rainforest within its borders. Our lodgings for the next three nights will be in a 5-Star Rainforest Lodge that has an excellent system of forest trails and three observation towers.
During the afternoon, we expect to visit the nearby Amaras Bird Rehabilitation Centre. The bird rehabilitation centre specializes in nursing injured endangered wild birds back to health for future release into the wild. Amaras is located on a large private farm that is dedicated to not-for-profit environmental reforestation, including plantations of tropical hardwoods such as mahogany, teak and rose wood.
o/n Pico Bonito Lodge, La Ceiba (B, L, D)
Day 11 Wed Feb 15
Cuero & Salado Wildlife Refuge
After breakfast, we will travel to La Union. Here we’ll change our vehicle for a “burra” or “donkey”, a man-powered railway car, which follows the old narrow-gauge railway tracks to the Cuero Salado Wildlife Refuge and its Visitor’s Centre. We’ll take a boat trip through the lush canals of the saltwater and freshwater wetlands that make up this reserve. This refuge is the largest manatee reserve in Central America.
Lunch will be in the small community of Salado, nestled between the river and the sea. After our meal, we will continue walking through the rich variety of vegetation that supports a treasure-trove of tropical wildlife. We hope to see monkeys and some of the more spectacular tropical birds such as Keel-billed Toucan and Scarlet Macaws. We’ll return to our hotel in the late afternoon for some relaxation before dinner.
o/n Pico Bonito Lodge, La Ceiba (B, L, D)
Day 12
Pico Bonito Lodge
We’ve taken the recommendations of our past participants to organize the activities for the last day of the tour. They were so taken with the wonderful surroundings and ambience of Pico Bonito Lodge, and its extensive system of trails, that they recommended future groups should spend their final day there and not travel anywhere else. So that’s what we have planned! Pico Bonito Lodge also has an excellent swimming pool, lush gardens, restful luxury cabins and an adjacent butterfly farm and serpentaria. A perfect location to spend the last full day of the tour!
o/n Pico Bonito Lodge, La Ceiba (B, L, D)
Day 13
Departure Day
After an early breakfast we will be driven to the international airport in San Pedro Sula in time to connect with our international flight back to North America. (B)
