Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave

The Actun Tunichil Muknal cave is also well known as the ATM cave and is located in the heart of the Tapir Mountain Nature reserve. This 6,700 acres park is managed by the Belize Audubon society and is a 45 minutes drive from San Ignacio Town in the Cayo District and in walking distance from the Pook’s Hill Lodge. It is one of the most impressive caves in the Mayan world. It was not until the late terminal classic period (700-900AD) that the Mayas traveled deeper into the Cave to conduct their ceremonies. Actun Tunichil Muknal means “the cave of the stone sepulcher” and this cave has received this name after the remains of a young Maya woman were found in a sacrificial chamber within the cave system.

Actun Tunichil Muknal was discovered 1989 and just opened to the public in 1998. Visits of the cave are only possible if accompanied by a licensed tour guide. Temperature inside the cave is constantly around 15° C. Getting into the cave is definitely an adventure! To enter, you have to swim for about 10 meters to land on a rock shelf. Then on the next 600 meters you will walk a slippery path with many sharp edges with the water depth alternating from just covering your toes to portions where only the tallest will not need to swim. Along the way many calcite formations are found which you will be asked not to touch, because they can hurt you and human hand will damage them.

The cave system consists of a series of chambers, ending in a 300 by 50 meter Cathedral where sacrificial ceremonies once took place. Here you will be exposed to the individuals that were sacrificed to the gods of the underworld. Tourists of this adventurous cave have the opportunity to travel into the Maya past and witness a living museum where the human sacrifices and artifacts can be viewed in their original context. The cave also contains two slate steles on which Maya elites cut themselves with obsidian blades to collect their blood to offer it to the gods.

The Actun Tunichil Muknal caves also contains much broken pottery. Together with the culture, history and geological formations it creates an unrivalled natural museum. More than 2000 years of history are shut up in these amazing caverns. The most famous of the human remains is known as "The Crystal Maiden". Mayan people believed the caves to be the openings to the underworld. These caves held power and awe for them. They made ritual deposits in caves, for reasons such as to beckon rain.