Belize — Caribbean Jewel
Great Blue Hole, Maya cities and coral reef — rushes available for licensing
Belize is one of the smallest countries in Central America, but one of the richest in natural and archaeological diversity. Wedged between Mexico to the north and Guatemala to the west, it opens to the east onto the Caribbean Sea and its extraordinary coral barrier reef — the second largest in the world after Australia's Great Barrier Reef, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Great Blue Hole — Some 70 kilometres off Belize City, in the middle of Lighthouse Reef, the Great Blue Hole is one of the most fascinating and most photographed natural sites on the planet. This perfectly circular underwater sinkhole, 300 metres in diameter and 125 metres deep, whose midnight blue colour contrasts with the limpid turquoise of the surrounding lagoon, is from the air a spectacle of absolutely unique beauty. It was popularised by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who ranked it among the ten finest dive sites in the world.
The coral reef and its inhabitants — Belize's long coral reef shelters exceptional marine biodiversity. Our footage shows conch fishermen at work on the shallow banks of the lagoon, as well as a wreck resting on the reef — a rare document on the fragility of this ecosystem in the face of maritime traffic.
Caracol — the Maya city lost in the forest — Deep in the tropical forest of the Cayo District, on the Guatemalan border, the archaeological site of Caracol was one of the largest Maya cities in the region — larger than Athens at its peak, with an estimated population of over 150,000 inhabitants in the 7th century. Seen from the air, the extent of its pyramids, temples and causeways barely breaking through the canopy gives a sense of a civilisation whose scale we are only beginning to understand.
Xunantunich — the temple above the canopy — On the banks of the Mopan River, facing the Guatemalan border, the Maya site of Xunantunich raises its main temple — El Castillo — 40 metres above the forest. Seen from the air, the pyramid emerging from the canopy in a setting of tropical greenery is one of the most evocative images of Maya civilisation.
Belize aerial footage
