Black Rock Lodge is a beautiful eco-lodge located deep in the jungle of the Cayo District of Belize. The lodge is about 30 minutes from San Ignacio, but the majority of that trip is spent on their long, bumpy 7 mile dirt driveway. Driving to the lodge is an adventure that is probably best left to the experts. While you can rent a 4×4 and drive to Black Rock Lodge, the road is bumpy, narrow, and teetering on the edge of a cliff in many places. We were more than happy to let their expert guides handle the drive there (especially when we encountered on-coming traffic in a section that was too narrow to pass and we had to back up a significant distance to let them go by).
Right from arrival, we could see how beautiful the grounds were and how well taken care of the property was. Signs and decorations celebrated Belize’s Mayan heritage and the thatched-roof main building gave it a real jungly feel.
The setting of Black Rock Lodge is stunning. Deep in the jungle, there is nothing around you for miles. The Macal River flows below and the jungle trees across the river are filled with toucans and howler monkeys. And there is no shortage of animals on their side of the river. There are almost 400 species of birds living around Black Rock Lodge, and we also saw dozens of lizards and even a boa constrictor.
Black Rock Lodge has 20 cabins, most of which are river front. For families, several of the cabins have two queen beds, and the River Front Suite that we stayed in had a king size bed and a couch that converted to two twin beds.
The River Front Suite was spacious and had plenty of room for a family of four. The couch was made up as two twin beds, which was perfectly fine for my boys at 8 and 10 years old. I’m not sure this particular room would work as well for teenagers or especially tall kids. It just depends on the kids and how much bed space they need to be comfortable. For us the room layout and space was great.
There is a second River Front Suite that adjoins this suite through a double entry door in the bathroom. Larger families or groups traveling together can reserve both sides. I will say that we heard a good bit of noise from the other side of the suite. Since the connecting door was in the bathroom, the echo of voices off the tile seemed particularly loud. Usually we were so tired at night that it didn’t bother us but there were definitely times when the talking next door was very noticeable.
And speaking of loud and disruptive… I have to mention the howler monkeys. Considered to be the loudest land animal, they were SO loud but so amazing at the same time. Everyone had warned us that we would be awoken by them at night but nothing really prepared us for the sounds that they made. Their guttural howls sound like something out of Jurassic Park. Nothing will make you feel like you are having an authentic jungle experience more than lying in bed at night listening to their haunting calls. Despite the sleep disruption, we loved it and actually missed it when we got to the beach.
There is no air conditioning in any of the cabins. Huge screen windows and doors on two full walls of the cabin helped keep the air flowing and kept it from getting oppressively hot. There were also several fans in the room. We were definitely hot at the end of the day when we returned from our activities, and it took a while for us and the room to cool down. But we found that by early evening it was totally fine and sometimes we even woke up in the middle of the night a little chilly. (We were there at the end of March.) Most lodges in this area do not have air conditioning and I would not really use that as a factor in deciding where to stay. It really didn’t impact our visit at all.
Overall, the room was beautiful. It was nicely decorated. The bathroom was large, clean, and modern. Every room has a 5 gallon jug of water since it is not recommended to drink the tap water. We had a private patio overlooking the river with a table and chairs, as well as two hammocks. There was a path from our patio leading directly down to the dock and rope swing.
The main room of the lodge was a huge, open-air, thatched-roof building that served as the restaurant, bar, lobby, and meeting area. It was beautiful. It looked down over the river below and the bar at the railing was a great place to spot birds and wildlife.
The restaurant serves an a la carte breakfast and lunch, and dinner is served family style with all guests eating at the same time. The dinner has a set bread, soup, salad and dessert menu and then you choose between the nightly vegetarian or meat entree. (Choices must be made by noon.) There is also a kid-friendly menu that includes things like burgers and chicken fingers, although they are also served the regular appetizer and dessert courses as well. The food was excellent. The lodge has a small farm on-site (you will walk past it if you go river tubing) and many of their fruits and vegetables come straight from there. Everything was fresh, locally sourced and homemade.
I will note that the dinners are very long, drawn-out affairs. They reminded me of dinners on cruise ships, where you are seated with other random families and served a 4 course meal that lasts two hours. The boys really struggled the first night – they were tired and hungry and didn’t want to sit through 2 courses of food they wouldn’t eat before being served their main dish. They did better the remaining nights, both because they knew what to expect and because we brought books and crossword puzzles to help keep them busy. (Note that they will happily accommodate a request to eat earlier and/or separately if that works better for your family, as long as you let them know by noon.)
We ate all our meals but one from the restaurant, including a picnic lunch one day while we were out exploring caves and waterfalls. Because the lodge is so remote, there are few opportunities to eat elsewhere. Fortunately the food is very good and fairly reasonably priced, considering the quality and quantity of food you received.
The lodge offers many on-site activities. You can swim in their pool or in the river. They offer a variety of other water activities, from river tubing to canoeing to stand-up paddle boarding. There are several hikes you can take on the property – some require a guide and some do not. They have mountain bikes you can take to explore the trails. We actually didn’t leave enough time to explore their on-site activities as much as I would have liked to. There is so much to do!
In addition to the on-site activities, Black Rock Lodge offers numerous off-site tours. We went to the Belize Zoo, Xunantunich, the Green Iguana Project, Barton Creek Cave, and Big Rocks Falls. We had the same guide (Roque) for all 5 tours. He was absolutely incredible. As must as we loved everything else about Black Rock Lodge, this is where they really stood out to us. Anybody can take you to see the sites. But it is a special guide who can connect with and captivate an 8 and 10 year old boy the way that he did. He truly put our vacation over the top for us.
The entire staff at Black Rock Lodge seemed passionate about their jobs, the lodge, and their country. The location and the amenities are important, but it is the people who set a place apart from the others. Black Rock Lodge delivers on all those points. It is a great choice for a family (or a couple, or birders, or adventure-seekers, or pretty much anyone). I cannot recommend it highly enough.
