Pook's Hill is a private forest reserve, bird sanctuary, and archaeological site in Cayo District,

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

, west of

Belmopan Belmopan () is the capital city of Belize. Its population in 2010 was 16,451. In addition to being the smallest capital city in the continental Americas by population, Belmopan is the third-largest settlement in Belize, behind Belize City and Sa ...

. The

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

site contains temples, a ''plazuela'', midden, banquet hall, and burial sites. Facilities within the reserve include Pook's Hill Lodge, an

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

resort.

Geography

Pook's Hill is located within a forest reserve, in the

Maya Mountains The Maya Mountains are a mountain range located in Belize and eastern Guatemala, in Central America. Etymology The Maya Mountains were known as the ''Cockscomb'' or ''Coxcomb Mountains'' to Baymen and later Belizeans at least until the mid-2 ...

foothills. Pook's Hill Reserve, which is listed with Belize Association of Private Protected Areas, adjoins the

Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve is a protected area in Belize, Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to t ...

. It is situated southwest of Belmopan and northeast of San Ignacio. From Belmopan, there is signage near Teakettle village. Other archaeological sites in the area include

Caracol Caracol is a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District, of Belize. It is situated approximately south of Xunantunich, and the town of San Ignacio, and from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Plateau ...

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-C ...

Xunantunich Xunantunich () is an Ancient Maya archaeological site in western Belize, about 70 miles (110 km) west of Belize City, in the Cayo District. Xunantunich is located atop a ridge above the Mopan River, well within sight of the Guatemala bord ...

, and

Cahal Pech Cahal Pech is a Maya site located near the town of San Ignacio in the Cayo District of Belize. The site was a palatial, hilltop home for an elite Maya family, and though the most major construction dates to the Classic period, evidence of continuo ...

Archaeology

Pook's Hill contains ancient ruins of a

site. The Mayan residential complex dates to around 830-950 AD. The site has been excavated by members of the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project. The excavations revealed four temples and also a midden. The midden is located between the temples 1 and 2A. The midden has revealed antiquaries which relate to the food habits of a common man. Temple 2A has been inferred as a banquet hall or community hall. Other antiquaries located here consisted of human teeth, images made in ceramics, and also musical instruments. Also found across the temple site were main burial sites in which skeleton remains of nine people have been found. In the caves in the region, remnants of pottery were also found which are inferred as similar to those found on the hills.

Wildlife

Pook's Hill is a private

bird sanctuary An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and to be protected for the rest of their lives. Pattrice Jones, co-founder of VINE Sanctuary defines an animal sanctuary as "a safe-enough place or relationship within the cont ...

. It is set within a neotropical, moist broadleaved forest, contains hardwood and bromeliad trees. Rare bird species are noted,

toucans Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five g ...

are common, and hummingbirds,

trogon The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. The family Trogonidae contains 46 species in seven genera. The fossil record of the trogons dates back 49 million years to the Early E ...

s, motmots, and the

spectacled owl The spectacled owl (''Pulsatrix perspicillata'') is a large tropical owl native to the neotropics. It is a resident breeder in forests from southern Mexico and Trinidad, through Central America, south to southern Brazil, Paraguay and northwestern ...

are also seen. The San Ignacio Resort Hotel in San Ignacio established a Green Iguana Project in 1996 in order to proliferate the population of the Green Iguanas ''( Iguana iguana)''. Since then, 100 iguanas have been set free in the Pook's Hill Reserve.

Facilities

The area now known as Pook's Hill was purchased in 1991 by Ray and Vicki Snaddon, who built Pook's Hill Lodge. Snaddon named it after the popular children's book “

Puck of Pook's Hill ''Puck of Pook's Hill'' is a fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1906, containing a series of short stories set in different periods of English history. It can count both as historical fantasy – since some of the stories told of ...

”, authored by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

. ‘Pook’ in the

Mayan language Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

means “hill”. The lodge has ten white-plastered cabanas with thatched roofs which are decorated with Mayan weavings. The facility's library provides information on the area's bird life.

References

;Bibliography * * * * * * {{coord, 17, 9, 16, N, 88, 51, 8, W, display=title Maya sites in Belize Protected areas of Belize Cayo District Bird sanctuaries