Cave Tubing in Belize

Coming from Boulder, CO I’m no stranger to tubing down a river, but Belize offered a new twist on that activity: Cave Tubing! Belize is known for having the largest cave systems in all of Central America, but the most popular cave tubing is found at a small part of the Caves Branch River at Nohoch Che’en Archaeological Reserve near Belmopan. Here you will goes through 5 different caves, weaving between sunlight and darkness for almost 5 miles!

Coming to the end of a cave!

Our plan was to stop for cave tubing while on the drive from San Ignacio to Belize City before catching the last ferry out to Caye Caulker. While we started the day early, it was already hot and humid when we reached the Reserve. After putting on plenty of sunscreen we were outfitted with our inner-tubes, life jackets, and headlamps. (I highly recommend you wear shorts, shirt, and water shoes. Don’t forget a little spritz of bug spray and sunglasses as well. )

One of the entrances, it was so beautiful!

Then we had the hike to the entrance of the river. While on the way you will criss cross the river once. Here there are patches of shallow and deep, and there even is an area to jump off an overhang into the cool water below. As you walk through the rain forest your guides may point out the flora and fauna around you. I was amazed to see what Pineapple plants look like! And I learned that the outside of the Cashew Nut is toxic. The trail is well maintained and not hard at all, even while carrying your inner-tubes. But soon you’ll see the amazing turquoise colored water, the stunning limestone cave openings, and the forest vines dangling in the water! (Note that the 5 cave entrance is on private land that only certain guides have access to, other guides will take you to the entrance right before the 3rd cave.)

About to enter another cave!

It is advisable that as your group gets in that you hold onto each other so people don’t float away too soon. I found in some areas the river flows a bit quickly almost rapid like, while other times you might find yourself in a slow eddy. Once everyone is ready, you’ll enter the first cave. Your guide will point out the various geological features (I was stunned to see a thousand of years old petrified tree at one point), animals like bats, and Mayan archaeological features.

The contrast between light and dark.

Some caves are on the shorter end and you’ll see the literal light at the end of the tunnel, while others are huge caverns that seem to go on forever. At one point our guide had us turn off our headlamps to simulate the Mayan underworld of Xibalba. As we floated along we started to hear the rumble of a nearby waterfall. Suddenly the guide shouted for us to brace and hold on tight as we were going over the edge!! People started to panic a bit, he said to keep the light off not to scare people…that we’d be fine. Louder and Louder the sound grew….until we were lightly sprayed with water. We laughed as we turned back on our headlamps and saw the “steep waterfall” was simply water lightly cascading down part of the wall, no danger whatsoever!

The “scary” waterfall. It was quite loud! (Also pictured the guide who is laughing his head off.)

In fact, the only parts where I had trouble was a spot out in the open between the caves. I went in the dry season, and in some areas…the rocks hurt your bottom. Not the bad hurt, but like you were riding in a car with no suspension, so you could feel every bump. I got stuck and had to kick myself back into slightly deeper water. After you exit the last cave you continue to float back down to the start of the hiking path. It was an amazing experience especially on a hot day!