Actun Tunichil Muknal
“Cave of the Stone Selpuchre”
The Belize ATM Cave (Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave) is the most impressive caves in Belize and the Maya Lowland. This Cave was a sacred place to the prehistoric Mayas of Belize who began using the entrance during the early classic period (300-600AD).
The most famous of the human remains is “The Crystal Maiden”, the skeleton of a teenage girl, probably a sacrifice victim whose bones have been completely covered by the natural processed of the cave.
When you enter the ATM Cave you will be required to do some swimming and climbing. This is a predominantly wet cave with water levels ranging from ankle to chest height. The cave river system leads you through a labyrinth of dry chambers culminating at the cathedral-like main chamber, which is 350 meters in length, 50 meters in width. In this area you will spend about an hour to an hour and a half admiring with great care the many skeletal remains and artifacts; both pottery and stone tools. Toward the back of this chamber you will climb a ladder of about 15 feet to get to the chamber of the Stone Sepulchre where you will see the skeletal remains of the famed crystallized maiden.
Barton Creek Cave Tour
The Barton Creek Cave Tour departs San Ignacio at 9:00 am, 45min drive, includes a 1hr birding hike to the entrance of the cave. Here we stop for lunch. At the entrance of the cave canoes with spot lights and life jackets are placed in the water for tour into the cave. . At the end of the cave tour guests have the option of swimming or return to town.
Caracol
The Largest Maya Ruin in Belize
The ancient Maya Ruin of Caracol is located on the western edge of the Maya mountains, within the Chiquibul Forest Reserve. Caracol sits on a high plateau, some 500 metres above sea level. The site was discovered in 1938 by Rosa Mai, a logger looking for Mahogany. The main temple, ‘Caana’, is Belize’s tallest man-made structure, standing at 42 metres (139 feet). The Classic Period site is noted for the rare use of giant date glyphs on circular stone altars. In their design of Caana, the Caracol architects incorporated symbolism that reflects ancient Mayan cosmology. There is much to see and learn at Caracol, an area of the home to rare ocelated turkey as well as the even rarer Keel-billed Toucan and Mot-Mot.
Belize Tikal Tour
Tikal is a great classic Maya city mysteriously abandoned around AD 900 and was home to approximately 100,000 Maya people. Tikal is one of the wonders of ancient world. Driving across the border you will go through several villages and pass three lakes and entering the park you will encounter a jungle setting, rich in flora, fauna and wildlife. Huge temples 212ft high rise up in the middle of the jungle.
Your guide will be verse in the English language and will be able to share with you a lot about the history of Tikal and the Mayan people that occupied the site . Your tour will take some 3 to 4 hrs at the site.
Xunatunich and Cahal Pech Mayan Sites
Translated from the Maya; ‘Maiden of the rock’ or, ‘Stone Woman’.
Xunantunich is a Classic Period ceremonial centre located eight miles west of San Ignacio. At the village of San Jose Succotz, we cross over the Mopan River using a hand-cranked ferry and following the track through the bush, after ten minutes we reach the visitors centre and the temples. The site was discovered in 1881 by Alfred Maloney, later the site was know as Mount Maloney. In 1894 a British Doctor, Thomas Gann, visited the site. In 1905 Teobart Mahler, an explorer and photographer of the museum of Harvard University, visited the site and took extensive pictures of the site at Xunantunich. In 1924 Thomas Gann returned to the site and started excavation works. The main temple is structure A-6; appropriately named ‘El Castillo’, which reaches 40 metres (130 feet) above plaza level and 180 metres (600 feet) above sea level. El Castillo is the second tallest man-made building Belize and is comprised of three layers in the structure. Archaeologists state that the site at Xunantunich was abandoned sometime between 890 to 900 AD.
Mountain Pine Ridge
