The Belize Zoo: Hours, Entry Fees, Location and Its Animals

Verified on 14 November 2026 on The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center’s own pages (home, Plan Your Visit, The Animals, Human Jaguar Conflict Program) and the Belize Forest Department’s wildlife page.

The Belize Zoo opens 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday to Saturday (last admission 4:00 PM) and 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM on Sundays (last admission 3:30 PM), and is closed on Good Friday and Christmas Day. International visitors pay $40BZ per adult and $10BZ per child (ages 3-12); Belizeans pay $10BZ and $2BZ. Those are the zoo’s own figures, in Belize dollars and written as it writes them, on its Plan Your Visit page read on 14 November 2026. The zoo is at Mile 29 on the George Price Highway, Belize District.

The zoo prints admission in Belize dollars only; the US-dollar figures are our conversion at Belize’s fixed rate of two Belize dollars to one US dollar, which our Belize currency and ATMs page sets out. The international adult rate is four times the Belizean adult rate (our arithmetic).

The zoo’s home page prints a different Sunday line: Sundays & Holidays 8:30AM to 4:30PM (last admission at 3:30PM). Plan Your Visit says Sundays only, and names Good Friday and Christmas Day as its closures. Neither page lists which holidays the home page means.

Where the zoo is, and how far

Plan Your Visit places it “at Mile 29 on the George Price Highway, roughly halfway between Belize City and Belmopan”. The zoo’s two pages give different drive times from the airport:

On buses, the zoo says “The public bus system stops at the Zoo’s entrance, and there are buses roughly every half hour from either direction”, and that on Sundays and holidays the buses are less frequent. The fare to the zoo stop is on our Belize City to San Ignacio page. The zoo adds that taxis from the international airport and from the water taxi and cruise ship terminals offer chartered transport; shore excursions that include the zoo are compared on our Belize City cruise port page.

Contacts, as the zoo prints them: +501-613-4966 (the zoo, also the WhatsApp number it gives for Harpy Cafe group orders), +501-613-1832 (Tropical Education Center), [email protected] and [email protected], and P.O Box 178 Belmopan, Cayo District.

What the zoo says about itself and its animals

The home page says The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center (TBZTEC) “is a not-for-profit organization founded by Sharon Matola in 1983”, who started it with a handful of wild animals left from a natural history documentary. It calls the zoo “the oldest wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, and education facility in Belize”, and says “the animals here are rescued, confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade by law enforcement, or transferred from other rehab and zoological facilities”. The Belize Forest Department’s wildlife page lists The Belize Zoo among its wildlife partners, centres that it says “offer veterinary and rehabilitation services for rescued and confiscated wildlife”.

The Animals page lists the mammals on show, among them the jaguar, puma, ocelot, margay, jaguarundi, howler and spider monkeys, white-lipped peccary and the tapir, which it calls Belize’s National Animal. It says the zoo cares for 17 avian species, “from scarlet macaws, to spectacled owls, to harpy eagles”, shows “the more common snakes of Belize including the imperial boa, tropical ratsnake, and the infamous Fer-de-lance”, and keeps two species of crocodiles and freshwater turtles including the Hicatee. Since 2003 the zoo has run a Human Jaguar Conflict Program with the Forest Department for jaguars verified as repeated livestock predators; our jaguars in Belize page sets out what it says about that programme.

Rules and services the zoo lists

• Accessibility: the zoo calls itself “the first and only nature destination in Belize that is accessible to visitors with physical disabilities”, with a limited number of wheelchairs for complimentary use and an accessible bathroom.
• Time: “A proper tour of the Zoo can take between an hour and two hours.”
• Pets: “Pets are not allowed at the Zoo or TEC.”
• Food and smoking: outside food only in the picnic areas of the parking lot; “Food and alcoholic drinks are not permitted on the Zoo grounds”; no smoking, including e-cigarettes.
• Wildlife: “Feeding, touching, harassing, or harming any wildlife (including plants) is not tolerated.” Only staff and tour guides employed by TBZTEC may conduct animal experiences.
• Rentals, all day (BonkoZoo Rentals): single stroller $8.00, double stroller $10.00, personal electric cart $25.00, wheelchair $10.00, wagon $11.00, printed with no currency label.
• Lodging: the Tropical Education Center is “just a mile away from the Zoo”, with lodging, meals and airport transfers.

What the zoo doesn’t publish

On its pages read on 14 November 2026:

• A currency for the rental prices. The rentals list prints dollar signs without saying which dollar, so we have not converted them.
• A list of the holidays the home page’s Sundays & Holidays line covers.
• A rate for younger children. The admission list names ages 3-12 and prints nothing for children below that band.

How we researched this

On 14 November 2026 we read the zoo’s Plan Your Visit page (hours, admission, location, FAQ, rules, rentals, contacts), its home page (founding, animal origins, the counts, the 45-minute line and the holiday hours), The Animals page (species named and counts by group) and its Human Jaguar Conflict Program page, and the Forest Department’s wildlife page. The US-dollar figures and the four-times comparison are our arithmetic at two Belize dollars to one US dollar; everything else is as the zoo or the Forest Department prints it.

Sources

• The Belize Zoo: Plan Your Visit: hours, last admission, closures, both admission rates, free parking and lockers, Mile 29, the 30- and 20-minute drives, buses, taxis, accessibility, 30 acres, over 40 species, one to two hours, rules, rentals, the Tropical Education Center, contacts.
• The Belize Zoo: home page: founded by Sharon Matola in 1983, not-for-profit, oldest rescue facility, animal origins, more than 150 animals of 43 native species, 50 staff, 69,000 visitors, the 45-minute airport line, the Sundays & Holidays hours.
• The Belize Zoo: The Animals: the mammal, bird and reptile counts, the species named.
• The Belize Zoo: Human Jaguar Conflict Program: the programme with the Forest Department since 2003.
• Belize Forest Department: Wildlife: The Belize Zoo listed among its wildlife rehabilitation partners.

Last verified: 2026-11-14

Researched and written by Estuardo Enriquez for belizetravelblog.com, an independent site with no connection to any airport, airline, tour operator or government body.