(Newswire.net — January 8, 2014) St. Petersburg, Florida — Belize is a small country on the Yucatan peninsula just south of Mexico. It’s known for its lush tropical jungle, friendly people, and scenic islands known as Cayes (pronounced “Key’s). Formerly known as British Honduras, this tiny little country of about 350,000 people is not well known to many. Over the past years, many Americans have relocated to this tropical paradise for retirement. However, in recent months, Craig McMahan of BZE Tours, a company that specializes in retirement and relocation tours in Belize, has been seeing a lot of interest from preppers.
In the past preppers or survivalists have been viewed as paranoid or maybe even a little crazy as they are known to be preparing for some kind of disaster such as terrorist attacks, economic collapse, nuclear war, pandemics and others. Over the past few years this image has changed given the recent political, economic and social changes in the world. There’s now a popular TV show “Doomsday Preppers” on the National Geographic Channel which features people and their plans for doomsday.
For preppers, finding a location where they can ensure survivability during a doomsday-type of scenario is at the top of their survival list. These types of places, also known as “bug out” locations in the doomsday prepping circles, are seen as ideal because of certain elements that answer the most important concerns to them such as availability of food and water, security and protection, and population congestion. According to Craig, Belize is seen as an ideal “bug out” location because of the following:
- Food – Belize has abundant natural resources and the climate is great for growing sugar, citrus, and bananas. There’s also been a recent increase of papaya, hot peppers and other fresh fruits. The many lagoons, flats and a large barrier reef just off the coast provides plenty of saltwater fish such as bonefish, permit, tarpon, wahoo, lionfish and let’s not forget the lobster. The lakes and rivers offer other varieties of freshwater fish.
- Personal Protection – Gun laws in Belize are very strict and importing firearms is difficult as most calibers are illegal. The only handgun allowed is a 9mm and shotguns must be 16 or 20 gauge. This means that preppers won’t have to worry about other people invading their location with high-powered firearms.
- Population – The population for the entire country is less than 400,000. The only caveat is it borders Guetamala (estimated population of 13 million), the Honduras (est. population of 8 million), and Mexico, which could pose a problem if there were some kind of crisis in Central America.
- Water – Belize has ample fresh water from its many rivers, lakes and groundwater supplies. Plus being that it’s in a tropical climate, it averages 71 to 110 inches of rainfall per year. The Caribbean Sea can also provide water with a simple distillation system.
“Preppers have also highlighted the proximity of Belize to the US, which means that for as long as they have a boat ready and waiting when the need arises, they can just jump on and sail away towards the tropical nation.”, Craig added.
If you are interested in exploring Belize as a “bug out” place, you can contact BZE Tours at (727) 433-8846 or visit www.retireinbelize.org. Craig McMahan and his team can provide you detailed information on Belize and may even arrange a tour of the country for you.
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