TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Belize Embassy in Taiwan showcased the beauty of Belize with its lantern display on Saturday (Feb. 24) at the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Tainan.

In a speech, Belize Ambassador to Taiwan Candice Pitts said Taiwan and Belize have had 35 years of “durable and reliable diplomatic relations” and benefit from the cross-cultural exchanges that stem from them.

This year, Belize’s lantern features the national bird, the keel-billed toucan, and the national tree, the mahogany tree, Pitts said. The bird is also known as the sulfur-breasted toucan or rainbow-billed toucan and has a very colorful bill, she said.

The mahogany tree was a major natural resource that helped drive Belize’s national economy during the nation’s colonial period, the ambassador said. “The reddish-brown lumber has been important in the building of furniture, musical instruments, boats, and so forth, and European colonizers had exploited Belize for its mahogany as the raw product for these commodities,” she said.

Pitts welcomed the Taiwanese to visit Belize and enjoy the natural beauty of the Central American country.

Tourists can relax and enjoy local cuisines and rums on the numerous small islands (cayes) off Belize’s coast, Pitts said. Visitors can also snorkel or scuba dive at the nation’s renowned “Great Blue Hole,” which is part of the largest living barrier reef, she said.

Pitts encouraged tourists to travel further inland and experience the country’s diverse wildlife. The Jaguar Preserve, located in the Cockscomb Basin, is the only one of its kind in the world, she said. Visitors can also go zip lining in the forest, tubing in the nearby caves, and explore Mayan ruins in the region.

Last year, the Belize Embassy’s lantern featured the Jaguar Preserve. The year before, the lantern spotlighted the Great Blue Hole, which is a UNESCO world heritage site.

The Taiwan Lantern Festival runs until March 10.