Belize: Flourishing Under the Shade Quiz

Answer: Tobacco Caye

The tiny, egg-shaped Tobacco Caye (approx 200ft x 400ft in size!) is in the Stann Creek district. It has a permanent population of about 20 people; there are no schools, so child residents have to board at school on a nearby island, coming home at weekends. Tobacco is believed to have been cultivated there by the Puritan settlers who lived on the island in the 17th century. Although Hurricane Mitch did significant damage to Tobacco Caye in 1998, it has since been rebuilt, and tourists wishing to go there must take a boat from Dangriga on the mainland.

(None of the other cays listed exist. I made them all up.)

Answer: September

Formerly known as British Honduras until it changed its name in 1973, Belize became independent from the UK on 21st September 1981. On 21st September, Independence Day is celebrated all over the country, with an official ceremony and a parade in the capital, Belmopan, and local festivities elsewhere. For instance, Orange Walk has its own carnival. National Day, meanwhile, is on 10th September and commemorates the Battle of St George's Caye, when British settlers (known as 'Baymen') repelled Spanish invaders in 1798.

Answer: It was reduced to half its original size by Hurricane Hattie

Fortunately for archaeologists, Xunantunich largely remains undamaged. Xunantunich was first explored by the British doctor and District Commissioner Thomas Gann in the 1890s, with several explorations and further excavations of the city having taken place since.

The name 'Xunantunich' is a mixture of Maya words meaning 'stone woman', after the ghost of a woman said to have been seen walking down the steps of El Castillo, the massive pyramid that is one of Xunantunich's most prominent structures. The pyramid is 130ft (40m) tall, with the remains of a large frieze around the sides of its lower part, said to depict ancient gods. Colonies of howler and spider monkeys live in the trees nearby.

Answer: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Doyle's Delight stands 3687ft (1124m) high, and can be found in the Cockscomb Range (so called because of its jagged shape) of the Maya Mountains. It remained nameless until 1989, when Sharon Matola, founder of the Belize Zoo, came up with the name after being inspired by a passage in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel 'The Lost World'. An unofficial alternative name for the mountain, Kaan Witz (Mayan for 'sky mountain'), has been coined by locals.

Answer: Red-footed boobies

The red-footed boobies can be found in the Ziricote thicket, on the western side of the island, and spend most of the year there. They have been a protected species in Belize since 1950. The sanctuary was founded in 1928 in order to protect the birds, and the island itself became a National Monument in 1982.

As well as birds, Half Moon Caye is also home to several species of lizard, such as the spinytailed iguana and the brown and green anoles.

Answer: May to June

The climate of Belmopan is what the Köppen Scale describes as a tropical monsoon climate, due to its proximity to the ocean, with frequent thunderstorms and heavy amounts of rain during the wet season. The dry season is short in contrast, lasting from approximately January/February to April/May. Belmopan was not the original capital of Belize; it became the capital after the previous capital, Belize City, was devastated by Hurricane Hattie in 1961.

Answer: A giant sinkhole

The sinkhole in question is the Great Blue Hole. Surrounded by corals, it is part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, Belize's only UNESCO National Heritage site, and is 406ft (124m) deep. Believed to be the world's largest underwater sinkhole, it's home to several species of fish, including basking sharks.

In 1971, Jacques Cousteau led an expedition to the sinkhole, finding limestone caves beneath the surface with enormous stalactites and stalagmites.

Answer: Boil up

A boil up (or 'bile up' in the Kriol language) is a culinary mishmash of 'ground food' (root vegetables), boiled eggs, pig tail and tomato sauce, though sometimes onion sauce is preferred. The root vegetables are generally plantains, potatoes and cassava, though some recipes also use carrots and yams. It is sometimes accompanied by a 'boil cake', a kind of dumpling.

Answer: Mahogany

In the early days of British settlement of Belize, logging was one of the principal industries of the island, hence the tree, the wooden ship and the woodcutting tools on the flag. Although it was initially logwood that British loggers in Belize sought, the price of logwood collapsed due to over-saturation of the market, and the loggers moved further inland in search of mahogany instead. There, they met with resistance from the indigenous Maya.

The mahogany tree is the national tree of Belize. The leaves circling the two men on the flag are also mahogany leaves.

Answer: Cayo

Actun Tunichil Muknal (literally, 'Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre') is in the same district as Xunantunich. Another name for the site is 'Xibalba', after the underworld of ancient Maya mythology. According to various tourist websites, it's not an easy cave to navigate for novice travellers - it involves plenty of swimming and climbing! One of the most notable artefacts found in Actun Tunichil Muknal is the Crystal Maiden, a skeleton of a teenage girl believed to have been a human sacrifice, so called because its calcified bones seem to sparkle.

As well as the various skeletons, fragments of pottery and tools, there are also carvings of animals on the walls.