Land Rover Jeep 4 x 4 Tour

[atljoo]

This was the highlight of our Explorer cruise last week. What a blast. We booked it through RCI becasue of the conditions in Belize (economically, infrastructure, and reliability of the operator). We booked off the ship on all other ports.

 

The tour is new (4 months). You are picked up by bus at the pier where the tender drops you off, and are taken into the Rain Forest for the start of the tour. It's a 45 -minute ride, but air-conditioned. Your dropped off at a farm and allowed to use the bathroom facilities. You're asked to leave you valuables, backpacks, and everything but cameras in a locker. You're provided a lock and key for your cubby-hole/locker.

 

You're issued a fanny-pack which includes a rain-slicker and a bottle of purified water, and a head lamp for use in the caves. You cross a suspension bridge that takes you to the other side of a river, and down a path for a mile or so until you come upon the dry caves. The guide instructs you to turn on you head lamp and you enter the cave. What an experience! These are dry, meaning no water to cross or deal with. But you do have to get on your hands and knees for some of the openings. You'll get dirty, and please don't wear flip-flops. You'll be sorry if you do. Lots of we limestone that's slippery. I wore KEEN sandals, as did my kids. They worked great. Tevas would be OK too.

 

You're taken through two caves that intersect one another. In between is luscious, lush, beautiful rain forest that makes you feel you're in the middle of nowhere (which you are). My 10 & 7-year olds loved it.

 

After returning to base camp to retrieve your belongings you're taken to get the Land Rovers. There were not enogh for every family to get their own, so we shared with a family from FL. This part of the tour turned out to be white-knuckle, "how are we getting through this mud" and scare-you-out- of-your-mind fun. The driver behind us was an idiot. He kept driving right up behind us, within inches, and we thought he was going to hit us. It was 45 minutes of terror, excitement, thrills, and pure adrenaline rush all at once.

 

We finished the jungle drive and proceeded for 30 minutes to another base camp where we were served sodas, rum punch, and fresh-cut fruit. The last part of the tour was the best for us. We jumped on a speed boat and sped down the Sibun River for 5 miles to the mouth of the river at the sea. We didn't stop there. We were taken directly to the ship! WOW! Very cool to "fly" down the river and see wildlife, beautiful trees and untouched wilderness for 30 minutes, and then open up to the sea where your cruise ship is waiting.

 

A word of caution. This is a demanding tour for those with small kids or health problems. We were worn out afterwards, and we're in good physical shape. Wear good sandals or sneakers, not flip-flops. This IS adventure all the way. We took lots of pictures that I can post to the web. i'll work on getting that done this week for those who want to see the tour.

 

If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them.

 

Mark

[Beth]

Sounds like a super excursion. Do they offer it on Carnival? How much does it cost?

[RedMWC]

I just got off the Carnival Glory. I did the "Land Rover and Cave Expedition" and it was awesome. The best excursion I have ever done. We saw a lot of Belize, not the huge crowds that go cave tubing. We were picked up from the Glory and did a river tour on a speed boat. We glided by Mangroves and "Cotton Trees" and along side tropical flowers and birds. Just the river was amazing and beautiful. We then stopped to pick up our Landrovers. Everyone who wanted to drive was able to drive (except me--you had to be good a driving a standard, which I am not)...The drive was about an hour total--through Belize countryside (where everyone we drove past waved and the children were crowded at the door to watch us pass by), down the highway and finally turning onto the Jungle road where we did some awesome 4X4 driving through thick mud and beautiful scenery. We climbed up and up bouncing around like popcorn and I had so much fun even though I wasn't driving. When we reached the end of the road, we were given a chance to clean up and use the restroom, given lockers for our belongings, bug spray for our exposed parts and headlamps and bottled water. We crossed the suspension bridge and did a short (but muddy) hike through the rainforest to the mouth of the caves. The caves were beautiful, but a little tough to get through. Definitely some hands and knees and "duck walking", our thighs were a bit sore the next day. One in my party had a little freak out (the caves were very hot and a bit small in places), so she was escorted immediately back to "home base" where she had rum punch and was much happier. When we finished climbing through the caves we met her at home base, cleaned up again and had fruit and soda and rum punch. We took vans back through Belize city and were dropped off at the port and still had plenty of time to do a little shopping and cashew wine tasting.

 

I have done Cave Tubing in Belize, and various other excursions, but this one was HANDS DOWN THE BEST. It was exciting and beautiful and relaxing, and educational...

 

There were children from the age of 10 or 12 in our excursion to some older folks in their mid 60s. One gentlemen had a bit of a struggle through the caves, but even he enjoyed himslef and made it through everything.

 

ONe other great thing about doing this through Carnival was that they sent a videographer with OUR group, so on our travel log we have about 6-7 minutes of our excursion, with highlights of my brother getting stuck in the mud and having to be towed out.

 

This excursion cost $99 per person, and was worth every penny...