The Adventures at BANANA BANK

By Jim Moerschel

We arrived at Belize city airport at noon, checked through customs and walked out into the dazzling light and 90 degree heat – a welcome feeling since we left New York’s 35 degrees and 2 feet of snow. Adam, Banana Bank’s finest guide greets us with his wide smile, grabs our luggage and shows us to the van. We are off on another adventure.
As we pass the outskirts of the city, Adam points out a long metal bridge and proudly tells us that it was the scene in a movie called Mosquito Coast. The highway is well paved and an easy drive passing through low, flat mangrove country
with Adam passing the time telling us all about the wildlife, the scenery and of course The Mayan Culture.
We have come to Belize to experience the jungle, visit the many Mayan temples, see the Barrier Reef and photograph as much of this as possible. An hour and a half later with the terrain climbing a bit we enter the Cayo district, then suddenly we make a right turn onto a bumpy, winding dirt road that heads towards
Banana Bank Lodge. The churning dust practically envelopes the van as we wind our way through the jungle giving evidence that we are in the middle of the dry season. The thick, jungle vegetation and towering trees almost envelopes the narrow road and we begin to realize that we will be staying well off the beaten path for the next six days.
Adam stops the van in a small field and announces that we are here. “Where?”
Neither Lorraine or I can see the lodge. Adam has already put our heaviest luggage on his shoulder and carries it off into the jungle, or so it seems. Actually, there is a bend up ahead and a long steep staircase that leads down to the Belize River, but we can’t see that yet. When we walk up ahead and

look across the river we see a rope
extended from one bank to the other and a few canoes. It suddenly dawns on us that this is the ferry service to the lodge.
Usually there is a wide bottomed boat that takes clients across, but today they are being used and the

canoe is the only way to the other side. And so, the adventure began right away and finally we climb the steep staircase on the opposite side and there it is… Banana Bank Lodge.
It is now late afternoon and we are welcomed in the restaurant, a beautiful large
thatched roof building, constructed in the Mayan tradition, using hardwoods and
several layers of Bay Leaf palms. The finest tasting limeade I’ve ever tasted quenches our thirst and the jungle ambiance of this lodge lifts my spirits for photographic adventures that lie ahead.

That evening we meet the owners. John and Carolyn Carr sit with us and other
guests at the large dinner table. Everyone eats “family style” here and we are quickly introduced to several other people who are staying here. This is the tradition at Banana Bank. Everyone gets to talk to one another over wonderful meals and learn about the land, the people, the culture and the wildlife of Belize.
John Carr, a former Montana cowboy and his artist wife Carolyn purchased 4000 acres of raw jungle in 1973. Banana Bank was an outpost on the Belize River

many years ago and acquired its odd name from the days when workers would pile
bananas on the bank for river boats to pick up and take back to the coast. Over the
years the Carr’s have built a remarkable eco-tourist lodge and an equestrian center
right in the heart of the Belizean jungle.
Our first morning we find ourselves immersed in a dense fog that transforms the thick jungle into a wonderfully eerie scene. Like a kid in a candy store I’m lugging my tripod and camera all over the

grounds shooting one bizarre scene after another
with the incredible sounds of birds and monkeys echoing their calls through the tangle of trees, vines and palm leaves that are now my subjects. This was for me, really special.

My choice of film for this trip was Provia 100 and some rolls of 400 and several rolls of velvia ISO 50. On the foggy morning, the tripod came in handy with low light making me shoot with shutter speeds of 15th and 30th more often than I would want. My lens was a 24 – 70 on my Nikon N90s and my old trusty Nikon N8008s
had a 28 – 200 lens. I used both on this morning shoot as I composed scenes using a wide angle and many with the zoom out to 100 or above. The fog lasted for about an

hour before lifting as the morning sun ate it up quickly.
At breakfast, John Carr told me I could have a film session with the resident jaguar, named Tika, who lives in a large natural setting enclosure on the property.

I was thrilled for the opportunity. Tika was abandoned by her mother many years ago and was found in the jungle and brought to the Carr’s ranch where they nursed and raised her. John eventually built the large enclosure and Tika has become a celebrity. She has been photographed by many TV and movie crews including Jack
Hanna, Howard Buffet, MTV and many others. Today would be my chance.
John has rules. If you want great photos of the Jaguar then you must get inside

the enclosure with the jaguar. You won’t get anything good from peeking through
the fence. Once inside, John talks softly to the cat and moves ever so quietly with no fast movement. I do the same. I have the camera on a tripod and another dangling by its strap around my neck.
As I move between the tangle of shrubs I can’t locate Tika. She is somewhere on the ground and blends right into the leaf litter on the forest floor. Wow!!! Amazing!!! Scary!!!

I think that if this was out in raw jungle we would never see her as the cat’s coat
melts right into the environment. I feel like prey right now as I scan the ground for her. Then John directs me over a bit and there she is. Sitting up and staring right
at the camera, right at me!!! The camera clicks away. I’ve got my first shots.
John calls to Tika so as to get her to move for another series of photos. As she slinks through the underbrush I fire off a volley of frames. Great stuff. The cat heads for her sanctuary in a tree with long curving limbs that stretch out like arms.
Instinctively, I grab the tripod and head to the opposite side of the tree, just as she makes her climb.

Here comes the ultimate stealth predator heading right for me or
so it seems through my viewfinder. The camera blares away in machine-gun like bursts as the powerful, muscular cat creeps closer. FANTASTIC!!!
Tika, then lies along the branch and now I walk across to the other side and she is looking straight at the camera again. With John’s permission, I walk up within 10 feet of this beautiful creature and

shoot an entire roll, some with flash and several with natural light. I’m trying everything as this is an event that I won’t
get too many chances at. Actually, John allowed me three separate days for a
session and I made the best of these. A session would only last about 15 minutes
so as not to stress the cat too much.

The night after the first session, John tells me that all the animal experts that have visited Banana Bank have told him he is crazy to go into the enclosure with the Jaguar. They are a solitary cat, much like a leopard in Africa and not social at all
even with their own kind. Males and females only get together to mate and after that they part and the female rears the young alone. This makes the jaguar a very
unpredictable predator, even one that has been raised in this manner. I had two days left for sessions and I survived the first one so what the heck??
On the other two days, Lorraine followed John and me into the enclosure. I wasn’t aware that she was in there with the video camera. As I moved around she did too following all the action, catching the cat climbing and slinking through the underbrush. Only when John said we had to leave the cat alone did we all leave together. Lorraine did a great job with the videos and they are a treasure to have.
During the middle of the day, there was a fine swimming pool to cool off in on a property adjacent to Banana Bank that was open to guests. What a treat when the humid jungle heated up to 95 degrees.

Canoe rides were popular as were boat trips on the Belize river and of course John has 150 horses at the equestrian center for guests to take jungle trail rides. There is lots to do here or you can just relax in this jungle setting and drink the best tasting limeade and orange juice anywhere.
There are hundreds of acres of citrus orchards on this property and the workers pick the oranges at their peak. I had a few as a snack and they were very sweet and oozed juice as the knife cut through. Delicious!!!
The cabanas that the guests stayed in were spread throughout the property near the main restaurant

. All were built in the Mayan tradition with the lovely thatched roof. Inside were two four poster beds, ceiling fans, some small lights, a
nice tiled bathroom with full facilities and even a small sitting room. Our cabana
came complete with a gecko that snuck through the thatched roof and would entertain by running around the roof or along the window sill. He was there to catch any spider or bug that came in. So we loved our personal gecko.
Adam showed us a small crocodile that he had caught in the Belize River and naturally I took some

close photos in the grass of the tiny beast. We even got the chance to hold this tiny reptile, before Adam put him back. Butterflies came to many of the dazzling flowers on the property and I made use

of my new Nikon 60mm macro lens and SB 29 ring flash. Birds flit in and out of the grounds feeding
on fruits and insects. The toucan is a fantastic subject and the Carr’s have one

here. Lizards are all about, but getting close is a real challenge. I used my 400mm
lens and tripod and was able to get some decent close shots of some iguanas living

on an old toppled tree. Carolyn also grows orchids and I was fortunate to photograph a couple of them in fine lighting conditions.
The highlight was to meet such wonderful fellow adventurers at Banana Bank Lodge. We shared daily boat trips, canoe rides, excursions into the jungle and hikes
with Ken and Nancy Eisenstein from the Boston area and Jerry and Phyllis Rovner and their lovely daughter Jackie from Ohio. Along with our good friend Adam this core group enjoyed the many adventures of Banana Bank.
I’ve been doing nature photography for about 35 years and for the first time I was introduced to the sport of “headlamping.” Jerry Rovner and his wife Phyllis do
night excursions to photograph small creatures and insects at night. Jerry took me out on two night expeditions into the jungle wearing this large headlamp on our foreheads. The amazing thing about this is that the light will reflect back the highlights of insects eyes to the person wearing the headlamp. Tiny spiders, in the case of Banana Bank there were thousands in the grass and all these eerie little eyes
were reflecting back to us. We could spot a spider at 20 feet away, walk right up to it, part the grass and shoot a photo. Jerry is an entomologist and teaches Biology.
His wife Phyllis just loves bugs. Period!!! What a woman!!
Belize’s jungles are riddled with caves and many of them provide some exciting
expeditions for exploring. Some have rivers flowing through them that make for some great cave tubing or kayaking and canoeing. But some people do get hurt from time to time.
Our friend, Ken Eisenstein slipped on slick limestone in the cave on his first day in Belize. What appeared to be a bad sprain turned out to be a broken leg. What misfortune for Ken and Nancy as it

limited Ken to sit outside his cabana most of the week. But after he had a cast placed on it, Ken took in a boat ride up the Belize river in John Carr’s leaky metal motor launch, which we named “the leaky tiki.”
Besides Ken with the broken leg we had Frank Sousa, a young guy from Florida who dislocated his shoulder jumping off rocks in a cave tubing adventure. So our
boat ride had some disabled veterans of cave exploration aboard.
To his credit, Ken took the injury in stride and never moaned about missing out on daily trips. I doubt I would have been so nice about it. Ken was enjoying the jungle ambiance of the lodges grounds. The view of the river was beautiful, the food was great and the sounds of the jungle were mesmerizing. There were another few reasons why Ken was so calm about his accident. Remember I said he was from Boston? Well, when you finally win the world series after 86 years and you win a few super bowls in a row it really dulls the pain. What’s a broken leg in a year like that???
For me, the early morning was the best part of the day. I did more pictures at this time than any other and the sounds from the jungle were captivating. I really enjoyed talking to and photographing the

young kids as they passed through Banana Bank’s grounds to go to school. These were local Mayan children who lived along the winding dirt road near the lodge. Some of these small kids had already walked a mile before getting to the river, where they all trooped down the steep staircase, hopped

into the wide bottomed boat and the oldest boy would pull the boat across by the long rope, hand over hand. Then they would all climb the steep stairs on the opposite bank and wait for the old school bus to take them to class. In the afternoon, they all came back home the same way.
The entire staff at Banana Bank was wonderful. We can’t express enough gratitude to John and Carolyn Carr for providing such a wonderful experience at Banana Bank. Adam was more than just a great guide, as he became a friend for the week’s tours. Josephine ran the office with great efficiency

and her smile and personality brightened everyone’s day. Margarita, who worked in the kitchen always made sure I had a cold limeade and orange juice even if they had to make it special for me. I thank her and the kitchen staff for bending over backwards to make me those drinks. John and Carolyn’s daughter Leisa handled my booking perfectly and answered dozens of my detailed questions about the lodge before I booked. And then there was Adriel, Leisa’s son who is a very bright young man
who delighted all of us.
As the week drew to an end our core group noticed an odd thing at Banana Bank Lodge. I guess we all figured we would be eating bananas till they grew out of our ears, but all week we never saw a banana at any of the meals. So after kidding with the staff, we finally got our bananas on the last day together and of course we posed for one last shot as a group each holding up a delicious yellow banana.

Parting was really difficult. First Ken and Nancy left in the pull ferry and the group was now split. The next day we left and Jerry and Phyllis waved goodbye
as we floated to the other bank. Our Adventures at Banana Bank were over, but the memories will last a lifetime.