Western Belize Caves - Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave

The adventurous excursion to the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave is one of Belize's top attractions. Visitors hike to the wide cave opening and begin their tour of the cave by jumping into a 20ft/6m chilly pool. Once inside, participants hike and climb through the cave surrounded by giant flowstone rock formations, which drip from the ceiling and grow up from the cave floor. A large cave opening reveals skeletal remains and several vessels and shards of pottery. The cave is named for a female skeleton encrusted in calcite, meaning "Cave of the Stone Sepulcher".

The cave was "discovered" in the 1970s, but Belizean archaeologist Jaime Awe was the first to fully investigate it in the early 1990s. Excavations between 1996 and 2000 revealed that the cave was a significant Mayan site, and about 200 pottery pieces and 14 skeletons were discovered. Actun Tunichil Muknal is considered somewhat of a natural living museum since only a few of the artifacts have been removed. This cave was featured in a video production and later in print by "National Geographic".