Honduras

Lost Mayan temples, towering waterfalls, dazzling Caribbean beaches, deep jungle waterways, little-known tribal communities and an outstanding array of wildlife – Honduras, as Central America’s newest eco-destination, has it all.
 
If you are looking for an authentic Central American experience, you will not be disappointed by Honduras. This journey offers both excitement and relaxation, and a sense of true adventure, as you pass through the different forest habitats of this amazing country, and marvel at the abundant cultural and natural richness.

This journey of many highlights starts with two days exploring Copan, probably the most important and certainly one of the most beautiful and artistically advanced of all the Mayan sites. Copan’s importance lies in its vast number of hieroglyphic texts. For its relatively small size, the amount of inscribed materials at Copan, nearly all on large stone altars, is truly astounding, suggesting that the elite culture of this ancient kingdom was particularly interested in a literate culture. These texts played a significant role in the efforts to break the Maya code, revealing surprising information about the rituals and reigns of kings over a four hundred year period.

From Copan, it’s off to Celaque, Honduras’s highest mountain at 2,849 meters, with its magnificent high-plateau cloud forest. This is truly primeval forest – towering trees covered with vines, ferns, and moss forming a dense canopy completely blocking out the sun, with very little undergrowth between the trees, and fantastic flora and fauna. Keep an eye out for quetzals, trogons, toucans, hawks, or any of the other 150 bird species identified in the park, as well as for rarer mountain mammals such as jaguars, armadillos and tapir. Then it’s down to the coast, travelling through more beautiful scenery and stopping at remote waterfalls, before arriving at the Caribbean port of Tela, our base for the next four nights.

From Tela, we search out howler monkeys and hummingbirds, snorkel in the turquoise waters of a coral reef, kick back and relax in true Caribbean-style on the beach of Cocalito, enjoying a typical lunch of fresh fish, plantains and fried rice and beans, prepared with coconut milk. Another day is spent kayaking through the mangrove channels of Punta Izopo, where the butterflies have to be seen to be believed. A third day takes us to a lagoon where over 350 species of birds have been sighted, and where we can meet with Garifuna villagers. The Garifunas, a coastal fishing community, originally African in origin, traditionally live in thatched huts and their dances and food are something not to be missed.

Then it’s a short drive down the coast to La Ceiba, jumping-off point for the virgin white beaches of Cayos Cochinos, a marine reserve consisting of a small archipelago of coral cays where the snorkelling is superlative and where we can swim with wild dolphins. A day is also spent exploring nearby Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge, where there are manatees, alligators and a variety of monkeys.

The final part of this wonderful experience is the most adventurous, as we fly down into the fabled Mosquitia, the largest intact rainforest in Central America, and totally inaccessible except by boat or plane. With local guides we travel by dugout canoe through the rainforest, staying in villages of the indigenous Miskito Indians. With a local guide we are guided through the forest to see a number of mysteriously engraved stones, and look out for wildlife such as white-faced and howler monkeys, deer, tapir, macaws, jaguar, armadillo, sloths, anteaters and over 300 species of birds.

Our final day in La Mosquitia sees us returning by dugout to the Garifuna Village of Plaplaya, where we can see giant leatherback turtles nesting in the sand. Then, it’s back to La Ceiba for a farewell dinner and last night celebration, before transferring to San Pedro Sula for the flight home. Alternatively you can extend your journey with a few days of relaxation on the paradise Caribbean island of Roatan.