Table Rock Lodge: Staying At Belize’s Most Sustainable Eco Lodge

Off a dusty road a few miles out of the town of San Ignacio, Belize, you’ll find the beautiful Table Rock Lodge.

This charming eco lodge in Belize is this nature-loving girl’s kind of place. You arrive to orange orchards, only to be greeted by rescue donkeys nibbling the grass around it.

Cabañas are nestled unobtrusively between the trees, each with their own hammock and hanging lounge chairs.

The only sounds are the birds and rustling leaves of the jungle… OK, and the occasional unearthly and deeply unsettling sounds of the howler monkeys who call this jungle home, too. A small price to pay for paradise.

A short walk away is the Macal River, where you can borrow a free canoe or tube and enjoy the persistent sunshine. Also, have I mentioned there are pet donkeys?

Honey, I’m home.

Rooms and Amenities

Table Rock Lodge is comfortable, but not fussy. Their commitment to eco-friendliness and sustainability presides over all.

As a result, you won’t find air conditioning, hair dryers, and robes here. There’s very minimal electricity in the rooms, just USBs for charging basic devices, but no outlets.

What you will find, however, is a thoughtfully designed room with high ceilings that keep the rooms breezy and cool, with high-efficiency ceiling fans helping to keep air flowing.

In terms of amenities, you have a comfortable four poster bed with soft sheets, a couch and table to lounge at, and filtered water available in two giant glass jugs.

You’re also given a few local hand-crafted welcome gifts — I received locally made cinnamon soap, hot sauce, and a mini bottle of rum. It was a lovely and thoughtful welcome.

In peak genius, I turned the hot sauce and rum into a killer cocktail with some of the oranges on the property.

This wasn’t a random stroke of genius: a knife and cutting board is provided in each room to encourage you to pick fruit from the farm at your leisure.

Each room also has its own private garden area with a hammock so you can lounge, read, and enjoy the nature in your own personal dedicated area, without having to stay inside your room.

I loved the colorful hammocks against the beautiful jungle greens. And besides the hammock, there are also two wooden chairs on the porch as well as two hanging chairs, so you have no shortage of outdoor seating options.

Sustainability

I chatted with Colleen, the lovely woman who owns Table Rock, who was happy to tell me all about the sustainability bona fides of this eco lodge.

After marveling at our similar career paths before opting for a life on the lam (we were both once special education teachers back in the U.S.!), I learned about Table Rock’s innovative electrical grid, which is nearly 100% powered by renewable solar energy… no small feat when this land is over 100 acres!

To keep the energy use down, the rooms don’t have air conditioning (nor do they need it, thanks to the high thatched-roof designs and ceiling fans which circulate the air… and this is coming from someone who places A/C basically at the base of my Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).

Another way they conserve power is that they don’t have regular power outlets in the room: only USBs.

Power outlets and wifi are available in the hammocked palapa, where you can fiddle away on your devices if you really need to (like this blogger/admitted Internet addict does).

She did admit that a few high-energy tasks — particularly running the laundry — sometimes require supplemental power in the form of diesel generators.

The hot water showers use on-demand water pressure-activated butane power to heat, which is a far more efficient set-up than traditional water heaters.

Other than that, Table Rock is quite literally powered by the sun and completely self-sustaining.

In the spirit of self-sufficiency, Table Rock Lodge also supplies the majority of their tap water from collected rain water.

They also use fresh fruit and vegetables from their farm (you’re always welcome to collect any fruit anywhere on the property — I made myself fresh squeezed orange juice every day!), and fresh free-range eggs from their chickens.

I loved Table Rock’s approach to taking as little from the land as possible and utilizing each of their abundant natural resources to the best of their ability.

It’s something we could all do a little better at home, right?

Social Responsibility

In addition to being eco-friendly, Table Rock also is making a concerted effort to be “socially green,” as the owner put it.

While the owner is foreign, the staff is entirely Belizean and she often hires local from the nearest villages, such as Cristo Rey.

Also, goods in the gift shop are 100% Belizean and local, and Table Rock purchases locally produced food, beverages, and supplies whenever possible.

As a result, the food is especially delicious, and fairly priced for the quality and effort involved in sourcing entirely local meals.

If you don’t have a car, you’ll have to eat your meals at Table Rock unless you’re doing a tour. Luckily, I didn’t mind — at $10 for breakfast and coffee and $25 for a two-course gourmet dinner, I found it exceptionally reasonable for Belizean standards.

Here’s an example of one of their delicious breakfasts: grilled pineapple on a bacon-topped French toast, served with syrup and fresh fruit.

Table Rock also partners with Pack for a Purpose, an organization that encourages travelers to apportion a small amount of their suitcase to bring items specifically requested by the local community.

For example, Table Rock is collecting educational supplies for the village school, working in partnership with the school to understand their specific needs rather than deciding on behalf of the school what is needed.

Sometimes despite best intentions, tourists can do more harm than good, giving items of little use or things that seem benign (like gum or candy) but can actually be socially or environmentally harmful. Therefore, these projects like Pack for a Purpose are extremely useful for local communities and a great way to travel more responsibly.

That’s just one of many reasons why I loved my stay at Table Rock, because I felt like my small stay supported one small part of a larger cause, one I hope continues long after I’ve left, despite the memories of waking up to howler monkeys which will never fade.

Allison Green

Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016, visiting 75+ countries in total. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. As a former educator, she merges her writing and educational experience to encourage ethical, sustainable travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and TBEX. Her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. When she’s not on the road, she lives in Bangkok, Thailand.