Sports & Activities > Caving
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Caving
Bring your flashlight and get set to explore the majestic subterranean beauty of the caves of Belize. Adorned with stunning stalactites and stalagmites, visitors to Belize's caves may see crystal rooms and ancient mayan artifacts over 1,000 years old.

The caves of Belize
Approximately 200 million years ago the beginning stages of limestone formation occurred, creating the backbone of Belize's extensive cave system. Sea levels fell and the mountains impelled themselves upward. After 120 million years of wind, rain, and faulting, the Maya Mountains were created, and underground rivers carved out channels, rooms, and caverns.

Today, many of the caves are part of an underground river course that forms massive aquifiers beneath Belize. Blue Creek runs underground in one cave for over 5 miles, with several waterfalls of 20 feet or more.

While many caves are challenging to the experienced spelunker, several are easy adventures even for beginners. Open to the public year round, the limestone caves at Blue Creek are multi-leveled and full of pristine crystal clear mineral pools and lagoons. Water temperature is a constant 75°.

What you'll see
Once past the entrance of the cave, all natural light disappears and you are immersed in a twisting maze of dark corridors adorned with sparkeling mica-studded stalactites and stalagmites.

This unusual habitat is favored by pigmentless fish, bats, symbranchid eels, whip scorpions, and other small creatures. The most prolific of these are bats, which cling to the ceilings, often attracted to warm pockets of air. Bats are harmless to humans, and most that live in the caves of Belize are insect-eaters.

The caves also reveal intriguing stories about the Maya. Archeological finds include pottery shards, intact pottery and even human remains.

Caves: The Mayan dark kingdom
Ac-tun is mayan word for cave, literally meaning "hollow rock." The Maya believed that caves marked the dark underworld kingdom of Xibalba, said to harbor the spirits of the deities. They believed there were nine layers of the underworld, representing not only death and decay but life.

For the Maya, the underworld was an area where souls had hopes of defeating death and becoming revered ancestors. As a result, caves were important burial chambers and places of rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices. Caves served as THE place to commune with the spirits and to learn the correct time to plant corn, to burn the milpas (fields), and to offer sacrifices.

The Maya also used caves for utilitarian purposes. Caves were a source of fresh water, especially during dry periods, and clay pots of grains were safely stored for long periods of time in the cool air.