We spent three nights at Black Rock Lodge and would have loved to stay longer. We barely scratched the surface of what there is to do both in the area in general and at the lodge itself.
Many of the activities at Black Rock Lodge center around the Macal River. You can canoe down the river to the Belize Botanical Gardens or the Blue Morpho Butterfly Center. (The lodge will pick you up and bring you back at the end of your journey.) You can hike up river a bit and then tube your way back down to the lodge. (Free Belikin for anyone who stays in the tube in the rapids at the end!) You can swim in the river, paddle around on the SUP boards, or jump off the rope swing. There are tons of ways to enjoy the river and its beautiful surroundings.
The rope swing was definitely the favorite on-site activity for RB. He spent hours jumping off into the river.
JB preferred the more laid back approach. He loved just swimming around in the river and paddling on the SUP board (although never actually standing up). He and Blair paddled over and explored a little cave behind the rocks on the other side of the river and saw bats and some cool birds.
Clearly not having learned our lesson about river tubing from our NC mountains adventure (see story here), we decided to give it another try. As we were gearing up and getting our tubes, one of the employees expressed concern that it was getting late in the day to go. After about 4:00 the water level and currents are not as favorable for tubing. We were cutting it close but they said if we walked quickly we should be ok.
The hike to the launching point is actually fairly long, especially for kids carrying tubes. It is a mile away, but probably took about half an hour for the kids with the tubes. We finally got there, put our tubes in the water, hopped on, and went absolutely nowhere. The current in the clearing where you enter was actually pushing us gently up-stream, not down. We could see that just up ahead past a big group of rocks, the current picked up going downstream, but try as we might, we could not paddle ourselves there. After fighting it for a bit, we realized that even if we could get there, it could be a huge mistake. We had no idea what was happening further downstream and we could easily get stuck somewhere along the way where it was impossible to get to the side and back up to the trail. So we cut our losses and went back to shore. The walk home was even longer and unhappier. And I think our family has officially sworn off river tubing now.
Black Rock Lodge also has a pool. It is a small but beautiful pool with an infinity edge that looks over the jungle and river below. This was a really important factor for us when we were booking. The kids really wanted a pool and not all of the jungle lodges offer them. But it turned out to be a distant second to swimming in the river and we only used it once. The water was actually colder than the river too.
There are tons of hikes you can do from the lodge too and I wish we had had the time to explore more. Some can be done on your own but others require guides from the lodge. There are also guided night hikes where you can go in search of cool nocturnal creatures. With waterfalls and caves within hiking distance of the lodge, there really are some great on-site hiking options.
Black Rock Lodge is a fantastic spot for birding as well. Roque was amazing about pointing out birds both around the lodge and out on our adventures. You can take birding-specific hikes on the property as well, where the birding-guides help you search for all three species of toucans and many others from the almost 400 species of birds that have been sighted on the property.
If you are not an avid birder, you can take the more passive approach to bird-watching like we did. The lodge had two high-powered telescopes set up to watch a toucan’s nest across the river. Once we caught them leaving their nest and watched them fly across the river right towards us. The lodge also has a fabulous bird feeder set up below the restaurant and we sat and watched the colorful birds feed from the fruit all day long.
If you are planning a visit to Black Rock Lodge, add more days if you can. I wish we had. With so many adventures and things to explore in the Cayo District, it is easy to run out of time to take advantage of all Black Rock Lodge has to offer. We fit a lot in during our 3 nights there but would have happily spent more time playing in the river and hiking in the jungle around Black Rock Lodge.