Belize Cave
Actun Tunichil Muknal
26 °C inside, all year.
Peter Andersen · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 110 m.
The real relief above Actun Tunichil Muknal, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
110m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
26°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
246m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
30,135
Visitors a year
published (Wikidata)
Inside and outside
26 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 26 °C here, in January and in August. In April the afternoon reaches 33 °C at the entrance, 7 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from February to November. The wettest months are in June and from September to November: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 26°19°Jan
- 28°20°Feb
- 30°20°Mar
- 33°22°Apr
- 32°23°May
- 30°24°Jun
- 29°24°Jul
- 29°24°Aug
- 29°24°Sep
- 28°23°Oct
- 27°21°Nov
- 27°20°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Cave in Belize
Actun Tunichil Muknal is a cave in Belize. The entrance is at 110 m. It has an underground river, stalactites and stalagmites and several entrances and long galleries. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.
- Teakettle Villagenearest town · 13 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,990 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Dangriga Airport (DGA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 69 km in a straight lineCar hire at BZE airport (Belize City)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
The Roaring Creek runs highest from September to November.
The Roaring Creek carries about 3.4 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from September to November. It is lowest from March to April.
- 3.3 m³/sJan
- 2.2 m³/sFeb
- 1.6 m³/sMar
- 1.2 m³/sApr
- 2.1 m³/sMay
- 4.6 m³/sJun
- 4.6 m³/sJul
- 4.7 m³/sAug
- 5.3 m³/sSep
- 6.2 m³/sOct
- 5.8 m³/sNov
- 4.4 m³/sDec
From about 1.2 m³/s in the lowest month to 6.2 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 124 km².
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 7other cave entrances within 3 kmActun Tunichil Muknal Cave, Actun Kabal Cave, Laberinto de las Tarantulas Cave and 4 more
- 1car parks within 2 km
- 1campsites within 8 kmBarton Creek Outpost
- 2hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmJade Jungle Resort, Hidden Valley Inn
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Teakettle Village13 km in a straight line
- Unitedville13 km in a straight line
- Armenia13 km in a straight line
- Camelote14 km in a straight line
- San Antonio18 km in a straight line
- Roaring Creek18 km in a straight line
- Belmopan19 km in a straight line
- Esperanza20 km in a straight line
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 26 | 28 | 30 | 33 | 32 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 27 |
| Afternoon | 26 | 28 | 30 | 33 | 32 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 27 |
| Night | 19 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 21 | 20 |
| Rain (mm) | 110 | 66 | 58 | 40 | 126 | 240 | 174 | 197 | 225 | 251 | 200 | 137 |
| Rainy days | 15 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 18 |
| Sun hours/day | 5.5 | 6.8 | 7.8 | 8.3 | 7.2 | 6.0 | 6.5 | 7.0 | 6.6 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 5.7 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 26 | 26 | 19 | 110 | 5.5 |
| Feb | 28 | 28 | 20 | 66 | 6.8 |
| Mar | 30 | 30 | 20 | 58 | 7.8 |
| Apr | 33 | 33 | 22 | 40 | 8.3 |
| May | 32 | 32 | 23 | 126 | 7.2 |
| Jun | 30 | 30 | 24 | 240 | 6.0 |
| Jul | 29 | 29 | 24 | 174 | 6.5 |
| Aug | 29 | 29 | 24 | 197 | 7.0 |
| Sep | 29 | 29 | 24 | 225 | 6.6 |
| Oct | 28 | 28 | 23 | 251 | 5.6 |
| Nov | 27 | 27 | 21 | 200 | 5.8 |
| Dec | 27 | 27 | 20 | 137 | 5.7 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (110 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 134% | 87% | 82% | 19% | 172% | 135% | 65% | 73% | 110% | 88% | 460% | 121% |
| 2021 | 230% | 115% | 105% | 191% | 109% | 93% | 114% | 98% | 71% | 132% | 110% | 67% |
| 2022 | 163% | 208% | 466% | 287% | 356% | 136% | 132% | 263% | 134% | 89% | 189% | 112% |
| 2023 | 210% | 116% | 99% | 20% | 32% | 64% | 201% | 76% | 92% | 56% | 252% | 183% |
| 2024 | 79% | 21% | 393% | 85% | 13% | 180% | 158% | 135% | 85% | 240% | 219% | 199% |
| 2025 | 221% | 139% | 49% | 56% | 16% | 111% | 81% | 48% | 183% | 98% | 126% | 155% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Actun Tunichil Muknal
Belize
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 110 mEntrance altitude
- 26 °CInside, all year
Barton Creek Cave
Belize · 7 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 85 mEntrance altitude
- 26 °CInside, all year
Midnight Terror Cave
Belize · 6 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 148 mEntrance altitude
- 25 °CInside, all year
Naj Tunich
Guatemala · 103 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 565 mEntrance altitude
- 23 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q344570) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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