In and around the Cayo.

• Author: Mahler, Richard
• Position: Belize

WHEN MICK FLEMING took over an abandoned farm in the hills of western Belize some 14 years ago, he unknowingly planted the seed for a kind of low-key "ecotourism" that has since grown into one of the country's most important industries. "I moved here from East Africa, where jungle lodges are a long tradition," explains the tall, tan British native, standing in the lush garden of his Chaa Creek Cottages resort. "My wife and I couldn't make a go of it as farmers and yet we still had a constant stream of friends from overseas dropping in. Sometimes it was difficult simply finding enough food to feed us all."

Faced with an oversupply of visitors and a dearth of produce, Fleming and his American-born spouse, Lucy, turned their farm into the sort of comfortable, cabana-style retreat one associates with Kenya or Tanzania. In the forest clearing where cows once grazed, the couple erected thatch-roof, stucco bungalows, an open-air dining room, and a wood-paneled bar. One side of the compound is bordered by the steep banks of the winding Macal River and its Chaa Creek tributary, the other by the Ix Chel Farm and Tropical Research Center.

"A lot of people aren't sure what to expect when they first visit the Cayo District [Belize's interior province]," says Neil Rogers, another English expatriate who helps manage the Flemings' business specializing in "adventure" tours throughout the area. "They soon realize there's more to see and do here than they can possibly squeeze at the plants and

Simply marveling at the plants and animals can occupy much of one's time in the verdant hills that straddle the Belize-Guatemala frontier. Nearly 200 species of birds, for example, have been sighted by Chaa Creek visitors, along with such exotic animals as the jaguar, ocelot, coatimundi and basilisk (a large, prehistoric-looking reptile). Trees along the jungle trails and waterways are adorned with dozens of varieties of orchid and bromeliad. Towering overhead are enormous tropical fruit trees and hardwoods, including the prized mahogany that attracted the region's first Anglo settlers two centuries ago.

Like Mick and Lucy Fleming, residents of Belize's sparsely-populated interior have historically lived off the land, first through logging or rubber and chicle tapping, and more recently via cultivated agriculture. Today the Cayo's rich, forested valleys are giving way to corn fields and livestock pastures as the country's land-hungry Mennonites and refugees from El...