Green Building

This is a living museum of Belize tropical treasures. Here, we can show you how we utilized and recycled our natural resources in the construction and decoration of the museum. The Eco-Museum is dedicated to show our Visitors the beauty of nature in harmony with our Belizean culture.

The Orchid Garden Eco-Village Restaurant is a large, tranquil space with low walls constructed out of river stones, topped with lengths of thick bamboo harvested from the banks of the Sibun River. 

This allows natural light to stream into the space, through the fine mesh netting which keeps the insects out.  The weight of the roof is taken by trunks of logwood and other hardwoods, and the roof is insulated with cohune palm leaves. 

In the centre of the space is an open area planted with typical rainforest plants.  Taking pride of place in this central area is a massive Ziricote root, draped with white and purple orchids.  The opening in the roof above this space increases the natural light, and allows any rain to flow in curtains directly off the steeply sloping roof, providing the restaurant with its own waterfall whenever it rains!

The tables are made from thick slices of 50 + year old mahogany, cut from what was left by the loggers when they harvested the main trunks.  The restaurant space is bordered on one side by a butterfly corridor.  There is an adjoining “Stone Room” exhibiting the different kinds of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock found in Belize.

The Orchid Garden showcases more than 100 of the 300+ native orchids and bromeliads found in Belize, and a number of these can be seen in the restaurant.

The overall effect is a sense of being in a “green” building promoting a feeling of inner peace and an appreciation of the beauty of the home-grown materials, harvested for this purpose in an eco-sustainable way.  Birds, butterflies, basilisk lizards and geckos can normally be seen and / or heard whenever you are in this space, which helps put you in touch with your tropical surroundings.