Actun Tunichil Muknal

Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave was one of our very favourite things in Belize. It was such an amazing experience and something we could never have done here (due to the danger and the potential damage to the artifacts). It was a guided trip. We started out with a one hour hike through the jungle to the mouth of the cave, traversing one river 3 times to get there (so we were pretty wet even before we started, lol!). Then we entered the cave by swimming through a large pool at the mouth of the cave. From there, we were able to wade through knee-deep to neck deep water in the cave, climbing over rocks, for about 45 minutes. At one point, the guide had us turn off our head lamps and hold the shoulder of the person in front of us and go through a couple hundred feet of the cave in complete darkness! That was totally crazy, but a very memorable part of it. Eventually we reached the dry chamber which we climbed up a few rocks to get to. Shoes aren't allowed in the chamber, so we wore only socks. The guide took us through several parts of the chamber, showing us broken and intact Mayan pottery used for the sacrifices they made in the cave. Everything was in exactly the same place as it had been found, and you needed to be very careful not to step on anything! One part of the chamber held the bones of at least 14 sacrificed individuals of varying ages, including a very well preserved skull. We also climbed (a very scary) ladder into a smaller upper chamber where the entirely intact skeleton of a 14 year old girl was laying. She had been posed like she was dancing and they were fairly certain her bones had not been moved since they had been placed there in around 800 AD. The whole cave itself was such an amazing experience, and a definite must-do if you ever go to Belize.

The mouth of the cave:






The Crystal Maiden