Itinerary
DAY 1 ~ Fly to Honduras
Leave your hometown and fly to San Pedro Sula, Honduras (your air itinerary will be coordinated by the Mountain Travel Sobek Air Desk). Upon arrival, you will be met at the airport and transferred to The Lodge at Pico Bonito. A member of the “Small Luxury Hotels of the World,” the lodge is a four-star luxury resort nestled in the lush rainforest of the foothills of the Sierra Pico Bonito and right next to Pico Bonito National Park. There are three nature observation towers, extensive footpaths, hiking trails, a butterfly farm, swimming pool, conference room, dining room, and a comfortable lounge area. We will have a get-acquainted cocktail and then a trip overview. Dinner and overnight at the lodge.

D…The Lodge at Pico Bonito

DAY 2 ~ Pico Bonito National Park
Since most bird and animal life is active in the early morning, we will have an optional birding walk through the extensive grounds of the lodge. After our nature walk, we’ll have breakfast and some free time before leaving on a hike into the national park itself. Starting on trails right from the lodge, we’ll hike right into the national park and learn about the natural history of this lush rainforest ecosystem and conservation efforts by FUPNAPIB, a local conservation organization.

Pico Bonito National Park encompasses 110,000 acres and has forest cover from sea level to over 8,000 feet, with the peak of Pico Bonito at 7,987 feet. Major habitats include old-growth rainforest, cloud forests, and secondary rainforest, with many waterfalls and six major life zones. Our moderate to strenuous day hike will last about four hours and will take us along the scenic Gorge Trail, a ridge trail between two cascading rainforest rivers. We’ll keep a sharp lookout for colorful tropical birds such as lovely cotinga, keel-billed toucan, and numerous parrot and hummingbird species. This area is also home to the more elusive fauna such as jaguar, puma, margay, agouti, tree frogs, and countless other tropical species.

Return to the lodge for lunch in the afternoon, with more time to explore the area. Pico Bonito Lodge is surrounded by cacao trees, a favorite food of the agouti, which is a frequent visitor to the grounds, and the flora of the area is truly spectacular with many species of orchids and heliconias. In the evening we can enjoy an optional guided nighttime interpretive nature walk on the lodge grounds.

B,L,D…The Lodge at Pico Bonito

DAY 3 ~ Cuero y Salado Nature Reserve
Nearby is the coastal reserve of Cuero y Salado, a wetland reserve that is home to hundreds of aquatic and terrestrial bird species as well as crocodiles and manatees (it’s the largest manatee reserve in Central America). While exploring the 100,000+ acres of wetland, one gains a sense of what the early explorers encountered along the north coast of Honduras and also a perspective of modern-day threats to its ecosystems. Accompanied by a representative from FUSCA, a local conservation organization, we will travel by boat into the estuary maze of mangrove wetlands and into the heart of this unique nature reserve. Once the site of the Standard Fruit Company’s largest coconut plantation, this new protected area is slowly returning to its primordial roots and is an important beacon for conservation in what was just decades ago the site of intensive commercial agriculture. Getting to the reserve is half the fun, accessible only by a narrow gauge railroad system that makes its slow and picturesque journey through different habitats of the refuge. Return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

B,L,D… The Lodge at Pico Bonito

DAY 4 ~ Zacate Falls – The Bay Island of Utila
In the morning we will drive to the eastern end of Pico Bonito National Park for a hike to Zacate waterfall. The trail is a bit inclined and moderate to strenuous, but the cool waters of the natural pools at the base of the falls will be a welcome and refreshing reward at the end of the hike! In the afternoon we will take a sunset ferry from La Ceiba to the Caribbean Island of Utila, famous for its buccaneer history. Accompanying us is a marine biologist who will explain the coastal marine ecosystems. The Bay Islands are a geographic and submerged extension of the Sierra de Omoa mountain range, with just the high peaks forming the three main Bay Islands of Utila, Roatan, and Guanaja. This formation creates wonderful snorkeling and on the north side of Utila, a steep wall plunging to thousands of feet below sea level. Utila is one of the only places on earth where 45-foot-long whale sharks can be consistently seen! We will have time to explore this uniquely Caribbean British town with its many shops and restaurants. Overnight at the Mango Inn, a Caribbean-style accommodation with large airy rooms and huge porches where you can lounge in a hammock.

B,L,D… Mango Inn, Utila

DAYS 5 ~ Utila, Bay Islands
We will depart at 8:00 AM for a day snorkeling. Utila is surrounded by a vibrant and diverse reef system and we will have several stops which will highlight the diversity of the area including some spectacular wall snorkeling. For lunch, we will stop by Pigeon Jewel Caye which is a fishing community. Here we will order lunch and get a glimpse of the day-to-day lives of working residents. After our lunch of locally famous Susan’s fishburgers, we will continue our exploration of the surrounding coral reefs which offer spectacular shallow water snorkeling with over 40 species of coral and dozens of different reef fish. For the more adventurous, there is a deeper channel on one side of the island that gives some wall type coral formations. Sea turtles nest in the area from May – August and we’ve been lucky seeing both Hawksbill and Loggerhead seaturtles. Accompanied by a local marine biologist from the Bay Island Conservation Association – Utila, we will have several guided snorkeling stops or participants can explore on their own. After a great day in the water we will return to our hotel and then have dinner at a local barbeque joint with fresh seafood and steaks.

DAYS 6 ~ Utila, Bay Islands
We have a couple of options for today. Participants can kayak through mangroves to the north shore of Utila and snorkeling in Rock Harbor, or go by boat along the coast to Rock Harbour and stopping at Turtle Harbor.

Utila hosts the new Turtle Harbor Marine Reserve that is home to the endemic black iguana and an important sea turtle nesting area. A biologist from BICA Utila, the conservation organization that created this protected area, will accompany us as we visit sea turtle nesting habitat and go snorkeling in both shallow water (3-7 feet) and deeper water (10-30 feet). The Bay Islands, and Utila in particular, have some of the best reef systems in the world because of their location on the edge of the continental shelf, at the transition between shallow-water and deep-water habitats. Some 96% of all the species of marine life known to inhabit the Caribbean have been identified in the waters here. This includes spinner and Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins, hawksbill, loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles, whale sharks, and many tropical reef species.

In the afternoon, we’ll have either another snorkeling opportunity or a land-based activity option. We will try to arrange a private tour of the Black Iguana Research Station if there is interest. Due to funding restrictions and short staffing, private tours are more challenging to arrange than in the past. For the landlubber, Utila is home to many caves, rumored to hold the gold chests of pirates from yesteryear. Birders will enjoy seeking out white-crowned pigeon, Caribbean dove, smooth-billed ani, Caribbean elaenia, Yucatan vireo, grey hawk, yellow-naped parrot, northern potoo, Canivet’s emerald, and Yucatan woodpecker.

B,L,D each day… Mango Inn, Utila

DAYS 7 ~ Copán
After a short flight to San Pedro Sula, we will transfer for the scenic three-hour drive to the ruins of Copán, an astounding ancient Maya site known for its fine stonework. We will be staying in the colonial town of Copan Ruinas with cobble stone streets and many small shops. We will have lunch in town and then have an optional visit to a butterfly house and the largest living collection of Honduran orchids (over 200!). Later afternoon will be open for relaxing or shopping in town. In the evening we will head out to Hacienda San Lucas that overlooks the Copan Archeology Site for dinner. Superb regional cuisine with spectacular views! Accommodations are at Don Udo’s Hotel, a charming new hotel converted from an old hacienda-style home. It features a sauna and Jacuzzi, sundeck, roof veranda, and a reading area/library.

DAYS 8 ~ Copán
After breakfast we will spend a half-day visting the Ancient Maya Site of Copan. For its relative small size (many other sites in the Maya lowlands are physically larger), the amount of inscribed materials at Copán are truly astounding, suggesting that in some way the elite culture of this ancient kingdom was particularly interested in literate culture and whatever that entailed. It comes as little surprise, therefore, that Copán has long been a focus of intensive epigraphic investigation. The large number of texts at Copán, nearly all on large stone stelae or altars, have given scholars a large amount of texts to be compared and studied, and these texts have played a significant role in the overall effort to break the Maya code. Recently, this great progress in deciphering Copán’s inscriptions has not only revealed surprising facts about the local royal history, featuring the rituals and reigns of individual kings over a four-hundred-year period, but it has also opened several doors on Maya culture as a whole.

After lunch, we will visit Malcote Private Reserve for a beautiful hike in the highlands surrounding the Copan Valley. The lush highlands of Copán boast some of the most impressive birding opportunities in Central America. Species include green parakeet, orange-fronted parakeet, white-fronted parrot, cinnamon hummingbird, turquoise-browed Motmot, barred antshrike, rose-throated Becard, and streak-backed oriole. In our two days in the area we will visit a butterfly farm, an orchid collection, and explore the rich highland ecosystems in addition to touring the famous Copán Archaeology Site.

B,L,D each day…Don Udo’s Hotel, Copán

DAY 9 ~ Fly home

Transfer to the airport at San Pedro Sula and depart on homeward-bound flights.

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What’s Included

• expert leadership
• accommodations in lodges, hotels or inns
• meals as noted (B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner)
• internal airfare
• sunset ferry cruise on Day 4
• airport transfers for those using the group flights
• sightseeing as noted in the itinerary
• ground transportation
• entrance fees
• basic medical and evacuation insurance

What’s Not

International airfare; meals not noted in itinerary; insurance other than basic medical and evacuation insurance as noted above (we strongly recommend you purchase the supplementary trip insurance offered by Mountain Travel Sobek, which includes trip cancellation insurance); optional tipping to leader and guides; excess baggage charges; airport taxes (US $27); and items of a personal nature (alcoholic beverages, phone, laundry, etc.). An airport pick-up/drop-off fee of $120 may be charged for trip members arriving or departing at times outside of schedules of major US carriers (Continental and American).

International Airfares

Airfare is not included in the land cost of our trips. As part of our commitment to total customer service, our team of professional air travel consultants will be happy to assist you with your international air travel plans and tickets once you sign up for the trip. (You may call our sales staff at 1-888-MTSOBEK [687-6235] for a ballpark airfare.)

Since our goal is to facilitate your flights and save you money, we have negotiated special rates with some of the major air carriers. But you must book early. Space is limited on competitive fares, so be sure to contact us immediately after you sign up. If you are making your own airline reservations please check with our staff before purchasing your tickets. We need to verify your schedule and ensure we have enough participants to operate the trip.