Chaa Creek Natural History Center & Butterfly Farm


Hike up the tree-covered hillside above the Macal River to reach the Chaa Creek Natural History Center & Butterfly Farm, a small nature center with displays on Belize’s flora and fauna, as well as the early Maya. The highlight is the butterfly farm, which breeds the dazzlingly iridescent blue morpho (Morpho peleides) for export. Tours are offered from the lodge.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Ix Chel Farms

0.34 MILES

This herbal-cure research center is at Ix Chel Farms, 8 miles southwest of San Ignacio up Chial Rd.

2. Chaa Creek

0.36 MILES

Set along the banks of the Macal River, beautiful Chaa Creek is a 365-acre nature reserve offering extensive facilities to lodge guests and nonguests…

3. Belize Botanic Gardens

1.63 MILES

The magnificent Belize Botanic Gardens, accessed from the grounds of Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge, hold samples of roughly one-quarter of the approximately…

4. Cahal Pech

2.43 MILES

High atop a hill about a mile south of San Ignacio, Cahal Pech is the oldest-known Maya site in the Belize River valley, having been first settled between…

5. Sa'c Tunich

3.02 MILES

Many refer to Sa'c Tunich as 'the living Maya site' because at first glance it looks like an excavated ruin. However, Sa'c Tunich is actually the museum…

6. Green Iguana Conservation Project

3.04 MILES

On the lush Macal Valley grounds of the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, this excellent program collects and hatches iguana eggs, raising the reptiles until they…

8. Tropical Wings Nature Center

3.33 MILES

This interactive ecology exhibit is aimed at kids, but even adults will enjoy the butterfly house and medicinal gardens. It's on the grounds of The Trek…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "belize/southwest-of-san-ignacio/attractions/chaa-creek-natural-history-center-butterfly-farm/a/poi-sig/1112621/1328136",
      "position": "superzone"
    }