Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave

This is the place heralded by the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and countless other educational and adventure channels and magazines as the most fantastic expedition in Belize, if not in the entire Central American region, or the world! You have the chance to experience it for yourself. Travel by road for about 22 miles from San Ignacio (7 miles off road) and we will get to the parking lot where you will be geared up for the 45-minute hike that includes three river crossings. Don't worry though, it’s almost always at knee-high depth. At the ‘camp site’ (where archaeologists camped while uncovering the cave’s history), the team gathers for lunch and prepares for three to four hours inside the cave. The hour glass shape of the entrance is alluring, and it beckons any and all to come into the bowels of Xibalba. A quick swim in (20 feet, at 8 to 10 feet deep) starts your journey into the entrance of the womb of the earth – this cave is nine miles long. You will walk in water from knee-high to chest-high for approximately 950 meters. There are a couple of tight spaces of fallen rock and a 15-foot climb that will be necessary to get to the highlight of this cave: the Cathedral. This is the place where thousand-year-old pots and ceramic plates, and what are believed to be sacrificial victims (14 of them), were found by archaeologists. Here you will be in the middle of the Cathedral in which you can soak in the history.