Eric Hoffman: Barry Bowen, a rare mix of entrepreneur and environmentalist
It was with great sadness that I read of the death of Sir Barry Bowen. I remember him as a generous man, a rare mix of entrepreneur and environmentalist who helped develop his country into a worldwide ecotourism destination.
A fifth-generation Belizean, he made a fortune paving his tiny country’s few highways, selling and buying real estate, and bottling Beliken beer. His personal wealth and influence were impressive, but how he used them was even more impressive, especially to anyone interested in conservation. Here are just two examples:
I got to know Barry Bowen in the 1990s, first while working as a writer for International Wildlife magazine, and later while I was on assignment writing “Adventuring in Belize” for Sierra Club Books. I was operating on a shoestring budget, and he helped me see the most remote wild areas in his country by flying me over them, for free. He was a meticulous pilot, and once aloft he beamed with excitement pointing to Mayan ruins and river systems that peeked out of the verdant rainforest.
We passed over the Belize Zoo, located on a swath, cut out of unusable lowland rainforest, in the country’s center. The zoo probably would never have existed if it weren’t for Barry Bowen. When a young American named Sharon Matola rounded up the discarded and starving jungle animals left behind by a foreign movie company, Barry Bowen took a chance and helped fund her vision of an animal-friendly zoo.
The Belize Zoo has grown into a model for third world countries, emphasizing environmental education for school children and housing native animals in large natural looking enclosures. When I wrote a story about Matola for International Wildlife I asked Bowen why he funded someone with no experience running zoos. He replied, “She worked so hard and was so passionate I didn’t see an alternative but to help and see where it would go.”
Barry Bowen’s Chan Chich Lodge in northwestern Belize offers one of the most unique jungle experiences anywhere in the world. Consisting of only 12 bungalows located in the center 140,000 acres of rainforest, most visitors arrive by small aircraft onto a bumpy dirt airstrip. Chan Chich could’ve been a much larger resort but Bowen wanted something small to ensure that visitors stay focused on their surroundings, which include an overwhelming array of jungle life.
In my two days there I saw Howler and Spider monkeys, and hundreds of species of birds including a Keel-billed Toucan and rarely seen Ocellated turkeys. I saw a Margay and an Ocelot, two of the five species of wild cats in the area. To this day Chan Chich is considered an ultimate birding destination. Bowen sold 110,000 acres adjacent to Chan Chich to Project Belize a conservation network that manages the area as a sustainable ecosystem.
I feel privileged to have known Barry Bowen and can’t help thinking how much better this world would be if there were more people like him who combine being adept at business with a vision of preserving natural places on the Earth for future generations.
Eric Hoffman lives in Bonny Doon. He is the author of The Complete Alpaca Book,’ Adventuring in Australia,’ Adventuring in Belize,’ Renegade Houses’ and numerous natural history articles that have appeared in science journals and popular magazines. Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel
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