Described as a luxury jungle escape and destination for food lovers and adventure seekers, Copal Tree Lodge is situated on a 3,000-acre sustainable farm surrounded by 22,000 acres of unspoiled rainforest reserve within the Maya Mountains, which the company actively seeks to protect. Despite the large acreage, Copal Tree Lodge contains just 16 private suites and 1 villa.
With the 3,000-acre organic farm as its base, Copal Tree Lodge has turned agriculture into an experience. There are weekly tours of the farm and garden, allowing guests to taste samples of crops and learn how the crops are used in local dishes and medicinal remedies. Guests are served herbal teas made from local herbs and have the option to participate in a range of agri-themed activities, including coffee, chocolate, and rum production. Next door to the lodge is a rum distillery.
The lodge features farm-to-table cuisine utilising produce grown on-site. Over 70% of the food served to guests of the lodge is grown on the property. Ingredients that are not grown on-site are locally sourced. The property consists of extensive gardens, fruit trees and livestock, and the farm is used to educate guests about the flavours of Belize. It comprises a Cocktail Garden (growing limes, coconut, pitaya) and Flavour Garden enabling guests to see, taste and smell a range of tropical herbs and spices (like fresh vanilla grown on the property). Activities for visitors include coffee cupping, bean to bar chocolate, mixology (featuring rum from the adjacent Copal Tree distillery & local ingredients as mixers), and a rum tour.
Other on-property activities include mountain biking, hiking and bird watching. In keeping with the eco-lodge theme environmental sustainability is a central focus of the company’s operations. Copal Tree Lodge grows native on its organic farm and plants thousands of trees each year as part of an agro-forestry programme that supports wildlife. Furniture and building materials are made on-site from wild fall and sustainably harvested wood, and the lodge implements practices to reduce its carbon footprint.
In addition to its eco and agro-cuisine tourism focus, Copal Tree Lodge encourages immersion into the culture of Belize, as the company offers cultural experiences including a visit to the Punta Gorda market. It should also be noted that Copal Tree Lodge is the largest private employer in Belize’s Toledo district.
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