CAVE TUBING AT CAVES BRANCH

This is the adventure to talk about when you get back home!!

Enter an exciting realm where rivers disappear into the underworld as you float on inner tubes with only your headlamp and professional guide to lead the way. Glide past entrances from above, filtering mists of jungle light, as you float through underground river caves sparkling with mica-studded stalactites and stalagmites, and filled with 1,000-year-old pottery shards, statues of fertility gods and Mayan footprints. Continue past an underground waterfall leading into the "Crystal Cathedral", a spiritual place used by the ancient Maya.

Caves Branch is one of several subterranean sites that were carved out of the limestone foothills in the Maya Mountains by the Caves Branch River. The expert guide will discuss archaeological investigations into the cave. Discoveries found in the caves indicate that the ancient Maya utilized the site for several hundred years. Between 300 and 900 AD, they made regular pilgrimages to the site to beseech their gods to nourish their fields, to provide bountiful crops, plentiful game and to request stability in their volatile world.

ZIP LINE BELIZE

Our Aerial Trek Canopy Tour offers adventurous guests a thrilling opportunity to soar through the jungle treetops high above the forest floor. The canopy tour involves traversing from one platform to another along a steel cable suspended up to 80 feet above the forest floor. Zip Line technology borrows heavily from rock and mountain climbing techniques. The zip line features a double cable with redundancy to provide a safe environment for our guests. Our lines are built to strict standards approved by the Association for Challenged Course Technologists.

Upon arrival you will be given a safety briefing and outfitted with safety gear that includes a body harness, pulleys, helmet and gloves. After you are fully geared up and checked by your guide, your tour starts off with a short educational hike up to the first platform. Here, a new world will unfold as you gently slide along on a steel cable to the next tree platform. All tours are escorted through the forest canopy by a lead guide and a follow guide to ensure your safety. The guides explain the different areas of the ecosystem you are experiencing. Your tour will take you over eight platforms. Along the way you will enjoy a bird’s eye view of our beautiful and pristine ecosystem. When you arrive on the last platform you will then rappel to the ground. The tour will take approximately one hour.

DETAILED ITINERARY
Guests will have the option of choosing from either the Cave Tubing Tour, or the Cave Tubing and Zip Line Tour. We depart from Placencia at 7:00am and enjoy a scenic 2 1/2 hour drive along the Hummingbird Highway in the Cayo District.

For guests participating in the Cave Tubing Tour, we will have lunch before we start the tour. After lunch we strap on our gear and begin a nature hike to the fifth cave where we will start our float on the inner tubes. This will give guests an opportunity to visit some of the chambers, witness pottery chards and take pictures of some beautiful limestone formations. We will continue downstream to the waterfall and then exit the cave. The rest of the float is under the canopy of the trees, finishing at the visitor’s center.

If you have chosen the Cave Tubing and Zip Line Tour, you will first go on the Zip Line, and then lunch will follow. After lunch we will do a shorter version of the cave float described above. The entire group will meet up at the visitor’s center. From there, we will drive back to Placencia, sharing stories as we enjoy our ride back home.