Chaa Creek is offering a week long summer camp scholarship program for Belize’s resident school children in order to educate them about biodiversity, natural resource conservation, the ancient Maya, traditional healing, and the three “R’s” Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

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Most travellers will want to make the most of their limited time on holiday and see as much of their holiday destination as possible. Unfortunately most travellers will also fail to take into account the effect the leap in time zones will have on the body.

If you have ever flown long haul you will probably already be aware of how much jet lag can disturb the first few days of your holiday as your body acclimatises to a new time zone. Common symptoms of jet lag include tiredness during the daylight hours and what feels like insomnia at night. Add poor concentration, hunger at inappropriate times and a general, underlying irritability at feeling unexplainably out of sync.

But thinking ahead can synchronise your body clock before you travel. A good general rule is that if you’re travelling west, go to bed later for a couple of nights, if you’re going east, go to bed earlier.

The following pieces of advice can also help reduce the effects of jet lag.

• If possible book an overnight flight. You’ll have dinner at a normal time, have a full night’s sleep and arrive at your destination in the morning or afternoon. This is probably the best way to replicate your normal routine if you are passing through a number of time zones.
• Drink a good amount of water before, during and after your flight. Reducing dehydration will help keep your energy levels up. Keeping hydrated is one of the most important parts of avoiding jetlag.
• Don’t drink large amounts of alcohol or sleeping tablets which will unnaturally alter your sleeping pattern.
• Sleep well before the flight and during long journeys and flights if you can. If you can get hold of an eye mask and some ear plugs, go for it.
• If you’re travelling west, through four or more time zones, try and get some bright natural light in the early evening to help you adapt to the new time zone.
• If you’re travelling east on your return, aim to get a flight which arrives home around midday, to get the brightest natural light available. Again, if you can, wear eyeshades on the plane in a dark quiet cabin.
• As short bout of moderate exercise can help reset your body clock after arrival.

Generally, whether you’re arriving in a new destination, or returning home from your holiday. Try to fit in with the locals as soon as possible. Eat when they eat and sleep (or at the very least least) when they sleep.

Chaa Creek’s resident Mayanist, anthropologist Joe Awe said that exploring Belize’s sacred Maya ceremonial caves also gives travelers new insights into the fascinating world of the ancient Maya.

“You don’t need to have an interest in caving or Maya history to appreciate Barton Creek Caves, but it’s a pretty good bet you will by the time you leave,” he said. “Many visitors have told me that Barton Creek literally opened up a whole new world for them, and far from being dark and spooky, the cave itself is a beautiful example of Mother Nature’s artistry.”

A May 16th feature on the Mother Nature’s Network website titled,“Nine of the World’s most beautiful and unusual cave destinations” included the Barton Creek Cave along with underground tourism hotspots in the Philippines, New Zealand, Viet Nam, Borneo, Barbados, South Africa and New Mexico and Kentucky in the USA.

The MNN article said that while “Little-explored subterranean landscapes are one of the final frontiers for these adventure-seekers and Indiana Jones emulators,” there are a variety of caving experiences available, ranging from extreme to family-friendly for a wide range of ages.

Mr. Awe said the Barton Creek Cave was definitely in the family friendly category.

“It’s exciting, yet at the same time relaxing, canoeing through large underground chambers with the guides using spotlights to point out spectacular formations and ceremonial areas and objects. We’ve had grandparents and young children come along, and everyone has a great time,” he said.

The popular Lonely Planet Guidebook also gave Barton Creek Caves a thumbs up, describing its outpost on their website as one of the “Top five highlights of Belize.”

Over four and a half miles long with a meandering river flowing through its chambers and wide passages, Barton Creek Cave has become a popular tourist attraction in recent years with high standards of safety and environmental protection. Mr Awe said that the guides Chaa Creek uses are all licensed and highly trained in natural history and Maya heritage, making a Barton Creek Cave tour both an educational and enjoyable experience.

“Exploring these beautiful Maya ceremonial caves was once a pretty specialized activity, but in recent years the Barton Creek and other cave tours have become more popular as people discover just how spectacular these underground treasures are. It’s great that they are now acknowledged as among a handful of the best in the world, and I think it’s going to open up a whole new natural and cultural aspect of Belize to a lot of people,” Mr. Awe said.

What’s a guilty conscience got to do with camping you might be thinking? Well it’s like this, you’ve decided to go away for a camping weekend, you’ve heard of a great spot on the river a couple of hours drive away and you’ve asked to borrow your friend’s kayaks.

You’ve tied them onto your roof rack and as you pull away from your friend’s house, the kayaks fall off! Much to your embarrassment, having reassured your friends how you’ll look after the kayaks, you haven’t tied them on properly. Your friends are rushing over to check out for any damage to the kayaks, wondering if they’ll ever loan anything to you again and your conscience is crippling you. What if they had fallen on a passing car? Or a child on a bike? Someone could have got hurt.

Moral of the story: Thorough preparation and a ‘cool-as-a-cucumber moral sense’ is the key for a guilty-conscience-free and safe camping trip. Whether you are a weekend camper, or a regular camper or it’s your first time, safety should be top priority. Preparation for your vacation doesn’t start at the campsite, it begins at home.

My partner and I have done a lot of camping, but we are never complacent when it comes to preparation, particularly for the vehicle that’s going to take us to our destination. Here are some ideas for a safe and guilt free camping trip.

Ensure your vehicle has had a service: Tell your mechanic your plan, so they can check for those things that could go wrong more thoroughly. Ask for your spare tire to be checked and if you are planning on a remote camping trip acquire a second spare tire. If you think you are going to go off road, have a 12v pump to adjust the air pressure in your tires. Sometimes we can think that our vehicles will be okay because they have regular services etcetera, but this isn’t always the case.

Allow more time than usual:This way you are not feeling pressured to rush, which as we have all experienced when we rush our usual moral sense of what is right and what is wrong can leave us and we short cut and safety is compromised. For instance on our last trip away, we had packed the car the night before, my partner had put gas in the car, check the oil and water so in the morning we could wake up and get going. We were feeling good about our preparations when we woke up and took one last check, but to our astonishment we discovered a flat tire! Yes! So after all our preparation, the unexpected happened, and time was getting away.

Check the weather, the traffic conditions, and have regular breaks: To be forewarned is to be forearmed. If it’s pouring with rain, generally you drive slower, the traffic slows down, more accidents happen (in my opinion). These common sense checks do help to have a safe journey.

First Aid kit: Most households have a first aid kit. Check used by dates on medicines and replenish. Bandaids can become old, tattered and lose their stick, so check them too. We use the First Aid kit from First Aid Product.com. The bright orange container is good as it attracts the eye if we need to find it fast. Source where the nearest hospital is and how far, and make sure you have revised your knowledge on giving first aid.

Water. While driving keep hydrated. Adults lose a lot of water during the day through various ways and since our brain is made up of 85% water we need to keep replenishing ourselves to stay energized and alert.

Sleep: Make sure you are getting adequate sleep leading up to your vacation. Three nights in a row of about 9 hours sleep is recommended. If you are anything like us, where we try and get as much work done as possible before we go away, it may not be realistic, but keep it in your mind, as drowsy driving is not safe. Another tip you may find useful is if we know we will be driving 6 hours or more, we will swop driving every 2 hours. Not only does it reduce fatigue risks but it helps the long drive appear not so long!

We just love camping and driving and our time away from home. And it’s all that more relaxing and enjoyable knowing that we have done some basic safety measures before we have left. And while it wasn’t us with the guilty conscience in the kayak example our first camping expedition was definitely full of learning experiences and we wanted to share the one we thought was the most important-safety.

Brendan is an outdoors addict and finds camping in any form the ultimate destination – there is no better place to ponder the Meaning of Life. But there’s nothing like a guilty conscience to ruin a good camping trip so check out these tips!

The Mother Nature Network, MNN.com, is a website that provides environmental and social responsibility news and information and covers a range of environmental issues with original articles, blogs, videos, columns and how-to guides, as well as news from wire services.

Content on the site is sorted into eight channels: Earth Matters, Transportation, Business, Technology, Food, Home, Lifestyle and Family.

In the article entitled “9 of the world’s most beautiful and unusual cave destinations”  the Barton Creek Cave was described as follows:

Another underground waterway that makes it on to many tourists’ itineraries is theBarton Creek Cave in the Central American nation of Belize. This cave was considered the “underworld” by the ancient Mayans who inhabited the area and was used as a burial place. Human remains can still be found inside the cave. It is this unique history and Barton’s amazing rock formations that make it one of the more interesting of all of Central America’s underground attractions. Barton is located in the Cayo District, a region of Belize known for its eco-tourism. Tour companies offer guided canoe cruises through the cave. Truly adventurous travelers can swim in the cave’s waters. The  unusual nature of these underground waterways makes Barton an attractive caving option, but it is the cave’s spectacular domed chambers that earn it a place alongside the world’s best cave destinations.

To read the full article, go to 9 of the world’s most beautiful and unusual cave destinations and to read an Archaeological Report on Barton Creek Cave, go to A Preliminary Report on the Archaeological Investigations at Barton Creek Cave.