About

Copal Tree Lodge

COPAL TREE LODGE IS AN ECO-RESORT LOCATED IN THE SOUTHERN BELIZE JUNGLE ON LANDS RICH WITH ANCIENT MAYAN CULTURE

Copal Tree Lodge helped pioneer the ideas of sustainable food production and agritourism—ultimately becoming an award-winning, world-class destination welcoming discerning travelers from around the globe. Awarded by Travel + Leisure for the ‘World’s Best Award,’ Copal Tree Lodge is built on lands with rich history dating back to the Classic Maya period — around 600 AD — when the Mayans used the Rio Grande river as an important transportation route to the sea.

In the 1860s, Confederates from Alabama and Texas settled in the region to produce cane, cattle, and rum. Ms. Marie Louise Young, a Confederate descendant born in Belize and our own Captain Jackie Young’s grandmother, eventually bought the “Big Hill” property to raise cattle and 80-acres of cane. She produced aged and argicole rum and ran a distillery called “Rocky Run Rum” on the property until the 1970s. The original cane press can still be seen in the center of our Farm Center.  

In 2001, the property was sold to the owners of El Pescador in San Pedro, and construction began on El Pescador South—a new fly fishing lodge. Four years later, Todd Robinson purchased the fishing lodge that is now Copal Tree Lodge— a partner of Muy'Ono Resorts.