Mayan Adventure Tour

Discover Uxbenka, one of the earliest sites in Southern Belize and learn about medicinal rainforest plants. Explore the Yok Balum Cave and relax at the Rio Blanco River. Uxbenka is located along the San Antonio-Jalacte Road, 10 km from the border of Guatemala. Uxbenka, a moderately sized site in the foothills of the Maya Mountains was settled around AD 250, a time of expansion of political influence from Tikal, and occupied until around AD 900. Uxbenka was one of the earliest sites in southern Belize.

Your journey takes you to the Stelae Plaza (Group A); a set of 5 joined plazas forming the core ceremonial groups at the sites (Groups B-F) and an “Acropolis” residential group (Group G) on top the highest hill in the site core. Whilst the village has undergone several changes in recent years with a school, health services, and all-weather roads, Santa Cruz remains a traditional Mayan village at heart. Santa Cruz is rich in resources, both mineral and botanical. The hills around Uxbenka contain some of the richest soils in the Maya lowlands and may have been important for the cultivation of cacao and other agricultural products. Even today the lands around Uxbenka are almost continuously farmed without fertilizer. The villagers’ main occupations are farming, raising livestock, hunting and fishing. Your guide will take you after the visit of Uxbenka and the village of Santa Cruz on a hike through “high Bush” and secondary growth rainforest and across crystal clear streams to reach a most remote and beautiful spot where you can discover the Yok Balum Cave and then continue through some of the best-preserved forests in southern Belize.

Here a rich variety of ferns, heliconia and shade-loving palms such as the broom, ‘give and take’, and bay leaf palm flourish under the tall canopy provided by giant forest trees along the way before heading back for a picnic lunch and a soothing water massage in the Rio Blanco River. We leave Santa Cruz as the sun moves behind the hills, heading homeward through the villages of San Antonio and Mafredi, and back to the Southern Highway to the return journey to Punta Gorda.

Minimum 2 persons.