Payne's Creek Natioanl Park

Most of this site is impenetrable swamp, caught between the banks of Monkey River, miles of beach ridge, inland savannah, and Port Honduras to the South. With so much water around, it's no surprise the best way to explore this site is by river.


Monkey River village can be reached either by road, from the Southern Highway, or by boat from Placencia. The road is only suitable for 4-wheel drive vehicles only. Tours to Monkey River are run from Placencia, but be sure they pick up a Monkey River guide as they know the area much better. Any time, although there are fewer bugs in the dry season, and more animals come to the river to drink.

Accommodations are available in Placencia, but to get the best out of the area, overnight at Monkey River itself, where there is a guest house suited to the rugged traveler or backpacker wanting to experience life in a small fishing village (basic). Trails have been cut into the surrounding forests, and guides can be hires from the village.

The actual park has no facilities, but the trail systems have been established in the riparian forests of Monkey River by the villagers. Punta Ycacos is increasingly used for sports fishing, estimated at 200 people annually. The area estimated in the SI is 29420 acres, and when calculated on GIS gives 31676 acres. Designated to protect various wetland habitats and the unique physiographic
features, formed from a extensive sequence of storm-built coastal ridges.

The park is adjacent to Monkey River. The area is an important Manatee breeding ground. It also contains an Ibis nesting site, a Hawksbill turtle nesting site, and a large wading bird population (both resident and migrants). Punta Ycacos lagoon has Tarpon, and there are Howler Monkeys along the Monkey River. Common game species include Brocket and White-tailed deer, and Armadillo. Jaguar have been reported in the area, and Crocodiles have also been noted. There are live vegetation regions in the park. In the north, there is remnants of riparian forest plus extensive secondary growth along Monkey River. A large unit to the south of this is herbaceous marshland. All reports indicate that this area is impenetrable and hostile to human travel, even in the dry season. Special vehicles were employed to penetrate this area by petroleum exploration crews in the 1950's. Further south and to the west is pine savannah and thicket. Pine was cut heavily in the 1950's and 1960's, so there are generally few pine trees left so the landscape consists of grassland with groups of palmetto. The most southern unit is brackish mangrove swamp associated with Punta Ycacos lagoon system. Finally, along the Caribbean shore (mostly on private land outside the park), vegetation is dominated by littoral thicket species such as Cocoplum and Sea-grape. Cashew has colonized some areas, and there are scattered Coconut palms. This is the most extensive stretch of coastline in Belize not lined with mangrove.

There are Maya sites under Punta Ycacos lagoon, believed to be associated with salt manufacture. These sites are now underwater due to sea level rise over the last one thousand years.