9 Best Sights in Dangriga, The Southern Coast

Named after a Garifuna heroine who came to Belize with her 13 children and founded the village of Punta Negra in Toledo District, this museum has a number of displays on Garifuna history and life. Exhibits cover the Garifuna migration from Africa to St. Vincent, then to Roatan and Belize. Another exhibit is on Thomas Vincent Ramos, a visionary Garifuna leader who, in 1941, established the first Garifuna Settlement Day. Other displays are on Garifuna food, clothing, medicinal plants, and music and dance. The museum also has rotating displays of paintings by Garifuna artists including Pen Cayetano.

You can visit the source of one of Belize's best-known exports, Marie Sharp's Hot Sauce, made in about a dozen different heat levels from Mild to Beware. The small factory, with about 25 workers and still a Sharp family business, is open to interested visitors weekdays, but for a tour it's best to call in advance. Besides the factory tour, you can also see the entire selection of products manufactured by Marie Sharp, and most are offered for sale along with Marie Sharp T-shirts and tote bags. The products are sold in nearly every grocery in Belize and sit on tables in most restaurants in Belize. 

Marie Sharp's main office is on 3 Pier Road in Dangriga, where there also is a small shop.

Mayflower Bocawina, an expansion of Belize's first protected area, has small Maya ruins, lovely waterfalls, and good hiking on more than 7,000 acres. A private lodge, Bocawina Rainforest Resort, is in the park and has upscale lodging, food and drink, and the longest zipline in Belize. The park has three minor Maya ceremonial sites: Mayflower, T'au Witz, and Maintzunum, near Silk Grass Creek. Nearby are the three waterfalls, usually referred to as "the Three Sisters": upper and lower Bocawina Falls and Antelope Falls. Access to Mayflower is easiest from Hopkins, about 20 minutes by car, but tours are offered from Placencia and Dangriga as well. The entrance to the park is about 4½ miles (7½ km) on a dirt road off the Southern Highway. From the visitor center, to get to the two Bocawina falls, it's an easy hike of about 1¼ miles (2 km) on the marked Bocawina Falls trail. The trail to Antelope Falls, about 1¾ miles (3 km), is more difficult due to some steep sections that can be slick after rains. Maps of the trails are available at the small visitor center. So far, little excavation has been conducted at the Maya sites.

This 1,600-acre park lies along the Hummingbird Highway between Miles 16.5 and 19 in Stann Creek District. Established in 2001, the park is still relatively young, and although it offers no spectacular sights, it does have rustic hiking trails. The Barquedier Waterfall (locally sometimes called Bak-a-Der Waterfall) is about a 20-minute hike from the entrance. The park is part of a community co-management program for nature reserves. It's best to enter the park via the northern entrance at Mile 16.5 of the Hummingbird Highway. Camping is available in the park for BZ$20 per person, plus the park entrance fee. As to the park's curious name, it was named after its principle creek. Billy Barquedier was not a person, at least that anyone knows. Barquedier is an alternative French spelling for a barcadere, a "landing place." No one can identify where the "Billy" part comes from. 

The falls here are about 500 feet high and are the second highest in the country; the natural pool at the base of the falls is 75 feet deep. The swimming is wonderful, and the undisturbed forest around the falls is great for a picnic or enjoying nature. Before going to Davis Falls, stop at the Citrus Products of Belize plant (Mile 14.5 of Hummingbird Highway/Stann Creek District Highway) for information and to pay your admission fee. Tours of Davis Falls are offered by several tour guides including Holistic Eco Tours at Steadfast Village.

Getting to Davis Falls requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle to tackle the extremely rough 8-mile (13-km) dirt road, before you set out on the arduous 2-mile (3.3-km) hike.

The Hummingbird Highway ends at a roundabout on downtown Dangriga’s waterfront. In its center sits a bronze monument to the famed art of Garifuna drumming and to its people at large. In a link of the past to the present, the sculpture portrays three dügü drums, used in traditional funeral services, and a pair of rattle-like sísira, a staple in contemporary Garifuna music.

The small Creole village of Gales Point, population about 500, has an idyllic setting on the Southern Lagoon. The lagoon and nearby waters are home to many manatees. You can drive to Gales Point via the unpaved Coastal Highway; tours are available from Dangriga and Hopkins, an easier alternative.

One of the most beautiful lagoons in Belize, Southern Lagoon is about 25 miles (41 km) north of Dangriga—a 45-minute car ride. This lagoon is home to many West Indian manatees, and on beaches nearby, hawksbill turtles nest May to October. The Northern and Western Lagoons also are in this area.

Punta rocker and internationally known Garifuna artist Pen Cayetano displays his bold, colorful paintings at his studio and gallery at his home in Dangriga. Works by his wife, Ingrid, and daughter, Mali, are also displayed. The house, built around 1900 and totally redone by Cayetano, including painted murals on the exterior walls, is one of the most interesting old buildings in Dangriga. You'll find a shop with souvenirs for sale.