Belize Whitewater Jungle

There’s a cool river wandering through the dense jungles of Belize. It’s call the Moho. And it has a personality disorder. One minute calm and serene, barely moving, the next it suddenly drops over and unseen cliff and erupts into chaotic white water.

Sil and I spent four days canoeing this gem of a river as part of the “Ultimate Adventure” tour with Island Expeditions, definitely the highlight of the trip.

The Moho is located in Toledo, the southern most district of Belize (go a little further south and you reach Guatemala). It runs from the Maya Mountains all the way to the Caribbean sea. It’s a long drive on bumpy roads that give you the feeling you’re entering a lost world. We were fortunate to have two local guides, Mario and Venancio, who welcomed us to their village along the way.

We used inflatable “canoes”. Jaime, our Kiwi guide, referred to them as rubber duckies. Rather indestructible. In January water levels are moderate. This river becomes a massive raging torrent in the rainy season and dries up so much that you need to get out of your boat and walk in the dry season. But January was perfect.

[/caption]href=”https://bouvetoya.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/04-rapids.jpg”> Taking a drop[/caption]

The Moho is an “easy” class III river. For someone new to whitewater paddling, that’s perfect. The paddling is calm, sometimes even glassy smooth, then on the horizon you see a white line and the river simply disappears. Before you know it, you’re hurtling over a big drop straight into a seething crash of foam. Some of the biggest drops are 14 feet high! You’re sure to tip the canoe. I lost track of how many times we swam. But the best part is that after nearly every drop, there is a long calm pool where you can recollect yourself, get back in the boat, and get ready for the next shot of adrenaline.