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Why Crooked Tree for Sustainable Travel

Crooked Tree's story begins with logwood. Around 1750, European settlers and the Africans they had enslaved travelled up the Belize River in search of logwood for dye production, and the settlement that grew here became one of the country's first inland communities. The name's origin is debated — a twisted bullet wood tree in the village, or the 'crooked three' families who settled the area — but either way, the village's identity has always been tied to the surrounding wetlands.

The Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, managed by the Belize Audubon Society and recognised as a Wetland of International Importance, protects a mosaic of lagoons, creeks, logwood swamps, broadleaf forest and flatwoods. It is a haven for waterbirds — from the resident jabiru storks, the largest storks in the Americas, to flocks of egrets, herons, ibis and ducks that gather by the thousands in the dry season. The sanctuary is also home to endangered species including the Mexican black howler monkey, the yellow-headed parrot and the hickatee turtle.

For travellers, Crooked Tree is Belize at its most authentic and least commercialised. The village runs on cashew production — its annual Cashew Festival in early May celebrates the crop that has defined the local economy for generations — and tourism is organised through community lodges and local guides who know every lagoon and bird perch. It is a model of small-scale, community-owned ecotourism.

Where to Stay in Crooked Tree

Village Lodges

A handful of family-run lodges and guesthouses sit along the village's single road, with gardens running down to the lagoon. These are the classic Crooked Tree stays — simple, welcoming, and organised around the birds: wake to the dawn chorus, breakfast on the veranda, and set out with a guide before the heat builds.

Lagoon-Front Cabins

The most atmospheric options face the lagoon directly, with decks over the water where toucans, parrots and kingfishers come to feed. Several lodges include canoe hire, so you can paddle the sheltered waters at your own pace at dawn or dusk.

Belize City Day-Trip Base

Some travellers stay in Belize City and visit Crooked Tree as a day trip, but the village rewards an overnight stay — the light at dusk, the night sounds, and the early-morning bird activity are worth the mosquitoes. If you do stay in the city, IMPT has you covered there too.

How IMPT Makes Your Belize Stay Carbon-Negative

Here's the maths. An average hotel night produces roughly 35 kg of CO₂ — from air conditioning, laundry, lighting, and food service. When you book any Crooked Tree hotel through IMPT, we retire 1,000 kg of UN-verified carbon removal credits. That's 28 times what your stay produces. Not carbon-neutral — carbon-negative.

The cost to you? Zero. IMPT funds the removal from its booking commission. You pay the standard nightly rate — in fact, IMPT is the same price as Booking.com on the same room. The carbon credits are tokenised on Ethereum, retired against a named project, with a public retire code anyone can verify. No double-counting. No greenwashing. Just verified carbon removal, every night.

• €5 free credit when you sign up — applied to your first Belize booking
• 5% back on every stay — 3% funds carbon projects, 2% as travel credit
• 8M+ hotels worldwide, 195 countries — Crooked Tree is just the start
• Free cancellation on most rates, typically up to 48 hours before check-in

Sustainable Things to Do in Crooked Tree

Start with a guided boat tour of the sanctuary's lagoons — the surest way to see jabiru storks, boat-billed herons, snail kites and, with luck, the resident howler monkeys. Birders should bring a scope and a list; the sanctuary has recorded over 300 species. For history, visit the Chau Hiix site at the southwest corner of Western Lagoon, where a nearly 75-foot pyramid rises from the jungle — the site was only revealed to the outside world in 1990 and may be connected to the great Maya city of Lamanai to the north.

Time your visit for the Cashew Festival in early May, when the village celebrates its namesake crop with food stalls, music and the famous cashew wine. Any time of year, sample the local cashew products — roasted nuts, jam, and the potent wine that's a Crooked Tree specialty. And when you're done exploring, shop through IMPT's 25,000+ retail partners to earn cashback on every purchase that also offsets carbon, or send someone a trip credit gift to visit Belize themselves — IMPT plants trees with named farmers, GPS-tagged and photo-verified.

Beyond Hotels — More Ways IMPT Works in Crooked Tree

Corporate travel to Belize? IMPT's B2B Corporate Travel platform gives teams exclusive rates, automatic ESG reporting across Scope 1, 2 and 3, and a single dashboard tracking every booking's carbon impact. Business plans start at $99/month; Enterprise at $250/month. For CSRD compliance needs, automated sustainability reporting is ready out of the box.

Planning to fly? IMPT Flights adds carbon offset at checkout when it launches in H2 2026, with Platinum Goodness members getting an extra 2% discount. In the meantime, redeem carbon voucher gifts — from $40 for 3 months of credits — or explore verified climate projects directly.

Interested in running IMPT in Belize? Country Ownership offers 50% revenue share on every transaction from Belizean-registered users, with 8% APY staking yield. Book a call →