Educational Travel

Belize is an open classroom with many well-established programs from which to choose.  Whatever the subject – from archeology, anthropology, or biology to sustainable development, history, or linguistics--Belize is ideal for experiential educators and life-long learners.

Organized study tours, school-based courses and volunteer service programs are available for all ages and budget levels. Popular programs include tropical ecology with both rainforest and marine experiences, traditional herbal and medicinal practices, archaeology, anthropology and photography.

Educational experiences in Belize usually fall under the following categories:

Learn as you go
Most visitors to Belize cannot help but learn about the natural environment of Belize as they take the multitude of tours offered throughout the country. Trained tour guides, carefully planned visitor centers, and the growing selection of guide books, research, and reference materials available can turn your day tour into a learning experience without any extensive planning.

Group travel
Several organizations, institutions, and commercial operations provide learning experiences for adults. These include preset group itineraries for a week to 3 weeks that may cover a specific interest such as archaeology or birding, or may offer a combined experience of marine and tropical ecology, archaeology and living cultures. While similar itineraries may be offered to different age groups, the difference is usually in the logistics and not in the quality of the learning experience. Higher priced tour groups will offer the finer accommodations, meals, air-conditioned transportation, and perhaps airplane flights to internal destinations. Meanwhile, student groups might have dormitory style accommodation, set meals, strict rules about alcohol consumption and partying depending upon the age of the group.

Educating the Educator
It is also possible to participate in trips that are targeted at a specific audience, such as a teacher's workshop designed to increase one’s ability to teach tropical ecology or to qualify for continuing education requirements.

Service Learning Programs
There are a number of organizations, both local and international, which offer service learning programs for visitors. The programs involve joining an archaeological excavation group, assisting with a marine research project, joining a medical team or a community-minded group, or coming to assist with the building of a school.