Green Iguana Conservation Project — Local services in San Ignacio & Santa Elena

Had a great time at the tour. It was short but I learned a lot. We took turns taking photos with the adult iguanas. They did not allow photos with the baby iguanas. They said iguanas become domesticated real quick and crave human attention once they have it. So the only ones we held were adults who were unfortunately kept as pets and the owners either gave them up or died before the iguanas. They said iguanas become domesticated real quick and not enough people who take them as pets are willing/able to commit to 30+ years of them craving attention since they cannot survive in the wild. The babies were about 3 months old and almost ready to be released into the wild.

There are some reviews and photos that show the baby iguanas being held and touched with human hands. I hope those are older reviews and they no longer do that. I visited 7 February 2023 and they only let us hold the adults who were already traumatized as pets. Our guide said they no longer allow humans to hold the babies. 😭

Hopefully one day less people keep iguanas as pets, so there'll no longer be adult iguanas who require petting here. And even more, hopefully less people eat iguanas ("bamboo chicken").

Tours are every hour or so. Mine was at 12:15 p.m. and finished around 1 p.m. Best to arrive early enough to use the toilet and wash any chemicals off your arms if you plan to touch any iguanas. They have wifi you can use if you...

It's way overpriced for $18BZ per person. All you get to see is a bunch of iguanas in a pen. Ok... Presumably the cost goes to conservation of the iguanas, but I didn't see anything of the sort. At $18BZ per person, there should be more than a few wooden pens considering the project has been operating for more than 10 years. That and the iguanas don't seem too happy to be held which is what the tour is all about. The tour basically consists of going in the pen in a group of 20 or so people, to hold some iguanas and take photos with them. While that is happening they may scratch you. One of the persons in the same group as us came out completely bloody with scratches on both arms and face. The claws of the iguanas are sharp and you may also have some sort of reaction to them. The iguana I held didn't scratch me but it's claws were sharp enough that even perching on me made a small line across my skin, which is still visible more than 1 week later. Don't get me wrong, it's important to protect the iguanas, it's just not clear whether this is actually a true iguana sanctuary or a money making scheme under the...

Funny that I should see an iguana while walking to this conservation area. I bought a ticket to see the iguanas. It's always nice to see nature but I wasn't overly impressed. The guide mostly talked about the $10,000 fine if caught poaching them out of season. (They are supposed to taste like chicken). Apart from learning about their attempts at breeding and their different colours, not a lot was gained. The major thing was to be able to handle them and take pictures. What really surprised me was on top of the entrance fee ($16 BSD) I was also charged a $2 BSD iguana service charge and a $2 BSD donations payable fee. Small potatoes I know but I was surprised there was no notice of this. So all in all it was a...