Excursion on Roatan: “Gumbalimba Preservation Nature Park & Scenic Drive.”
On the scenic drive, we drove along a ridge where we could see the Carribean from both sides of bus. Very nice views! There perched some pretty impressive homes owned mostly by Expats.
We arrive at the nature park. There are plenty of Gumbalinda trees, but there are also Kapok trees sometimes confused with Banyan trees. There are lime trees. There are 12 species of Mangos.
We saw black iguanas near the start of our walk.
Along the walk, we went into a cave, not a real cave, it was a tropical insect exhibit. Above our heads as entering was a bat, I suppose it was assessing the visitors. The exhibit had a very interesting insect collection. Paula found the shiniest of them most engaging. Actually, the entire room was box exhibits lining the walls with all kinds of insect specimens.
We entered a second cave, Coxen’s Cave, that has exhibits of the history of Roatan. It was crowded and we did not stay long.
We next paused where there were large numbers of green iguanas, no doubt due to the food there for them. HAHA. Fun to watch, see for yourself:
Next we carefully and slowly traversed a somewhat long footbridge over creek/river.
A short trek led us to Birds! Macaws to be exact. Of course, almost everyone wanted photos with them on their arm and shoulders, including some of us. It was fun holding them!
After the birds came the Monkeys. It was fun holding them too! Same with photos! Don’t make the mistake of the monkeys, for sure, the monkeys have you, are moving around and grooming you, as they feel like. They will get off when snacks are presented suggested moving toward something taller!
The quarter mile walk advertised seemed more like a mile and a quarter and it was very tiring, all the walking and standing around, waiting for everyone in the group to get the photos with the birds and monkeys. We were fairly exhausted.
From the drive: There is not much commerce on the island other than tourism. Seafood such as lobster, red snapper and shrimp are exported and most of the banana and coconut growing was moved to the mainland Honduras. They still grow bananas, health herbs, and other plants in their own yards.
Paula: “The sad part of the drive was seeing the amount of plastic along the water’s edge. It made me realize the importance of recycling. Or buying less stuff packaged in plastic.”