The Story of Monkey Bay

It all started 20 years ago when Matt and Marga Miller, the founders of Monkey Bay, met and fell in love. Marga, a native of the Netherlands, was living in Belize with her two daughters from a previous marriage when she met Matt. Matt originally came to Belize as a member of the Peace Corps. Eventually they found a plot of land near the Sibun River and decided to purchase it to raise cattle. This area had originally, but not formally, been referred to as Monkey Bay.


In the early days, they had a business partner in their cattle operation. During the rainy season, the river flooded, resulting in Matt and Marga's receiving an alarming phone call: the cattle were in the trees! The flood had carried the cattle away, and when the waters receded, the cows were left stranded in the trees. Clearly ranching was not in the cards for Matt and Marga.


They had a dilemma: what to do with the parcel of land. Matt, from his days in the Peace Corps, floated the idea of using the land as a nature preserve. Today what we see as we traverse the peaceful and gorgeous grounds of Monkey Bay is not what we would have seen 20 years ago.


Matt and Marga first lived in a tent along the Sibun River before building a small hut, where they lived for many years. Little by little, lodge-like buildings with comfortable rooms were added. Matt and Marga live in their own home near the accommodations where visitors sleep. Their domicile today includes the original hut they built because, as Marga, nostaligally says, "We could not do away with our original home here." They are in the process of building another building to house showers and massage rooms!

According to their website, Monkey Bay is "an environmental center that offers experiential learning programs and training opportunities while serving as a model of conservation and land stewardship." This mission is evident everywhere one walks or looks here. From solar-powered cooking to iguana conservation, Monkey Bay is an oasis of green, sustainable living. Our drinking water is filtered rain water, and our food is prepared with local ingredients.

Lots of hard work, much sweat, innumerable setbacks, and a child of their own later, Matt and Marga's dream became a reality.

- Ruby Cortner