Today we took the public bus to Belize Zoo, as we were advised that it was the best way to get there by a friendly taxi driver. That's how nice people are in Belize: even though he was a taxi driver he told us about the bus! It only cost £4 each for the return two hour journey on a Blue Bird bus. The conductor showed us where to get off on the main highway, which was right opposite the zoo's entrance.

Belize Zoo was started in 1983, after filming of a nature documentary about tropical rainforests finished, and the animals involved were too tame to be released back into the wild. Now, it's used as an education centre for Belizeans and tourists, and houses most of the animals native to Belize. We saw jaguars, pumas, ocelots, howler monkeys and spider monkeys. We also saw a few toucans, which is the national bird of Belize, but one that we haven't managed to spot in the wild yet. There were also loads of wild animals that wander into the zoo to get a free lunch: we saw grey foxes and a wild agouti just wandering about. We also saw albino coatis which are soooo cute, but are really rare in the wild.

Me and Matt also paid $5 each to go on the 'Tapir Encounter', where we could feed and pet the tapirs. Most of the tapirs were too busy snoozing in the afternoon sun to take any notice of our guide banging the food bowl at them. But we met April: a tapir who at 29 years old is thought to be the oldest in the world, and is famous throughout Belize. Apparently, school children from all over the country come to celebrate her birthday at the zoo. We also fed another tapir some carrots, cucumber and mushy banana, his nose was hilarious!

We had tea at the Maya Walk Bar, where Matt had lamb straight from the BBQ grill, and I took advantage of the happy hour rum and cokes (less than £1!) I had to have a drink to recover from being starstruck from meeting the most famous tapir in the world!