This is a tour the whole family will love! Take an easy float down the Swasey River with a few fun, but manageable rapids to keep things interesting. The scenery is gorgeous- lush, untouched hillsides polka dotted with flowering trees and depending on the time of year, Scarlet Macaws by the dozen! Whether you’re into birds or not (I’m not, but I can totally appreciate these flamboyantly colored fowl especially in great numbers, it’s pretty cool to see them feeding or flying in groups of 3, 4, 7, more) you’re sure to enjoy this excursion. One of my 6 Fun Day Trips to Take from Placencia, here’s what to expect when you do the river tubing in Red Bank with Real Deal Belize Tours.
You’ll drive in to Red Bank Village (about an hour one-way from Placencia) and meet Raul Tec at the Real Deal Belize Tours Office to grab equipment and hop in a pick-up for a short and bumpy ride up to the embarkation point to begin the tubing. The float takes about 2 hours more or less depending on how fast the water is flowing that day and whether your group stops to swim and hang out along the bank of the river.
The Scarlet Macaws are in the area December through March and the stretch of river where the tubing ends is the best place to view them. When you finish the float you have an easy 5-min hike to the trucks then another quick bumpy drive back to the tour office. The tubing tour costs $50us pp and runs beyond just the months the Macaws can be viewed; basically, as long as the river is high enough to permit floaters, Raul will run the tubing. Check out Raul in Red Bank for this and other birding/ wildlife viewing tours- they’re experts of the area!
I really enjoy your posts. I am trying to plan a couple’s trip to Belize. You are a wealth of knowledge! Thank you!
Oh thanks! Well have fun planning- I always feel like researching and planning and anticipating is half the fun. I’m sure you’ll put together a great Belize itinerary