Saturday, 1 February 2014

THE MOST SURREAL ADVENTURE IN BELIZE “THE BLACK HOLE DROP”



THE MOST SURREAL ADVENTURE IN  BELIZE “THE BLACK HOLE DROP”

February 1st 2014 by Oscar Castaneda for Balaam Eco Adventures


 Are you looking for a real Belize AdventureTour?  Indiana Jones kind of Adventure?  Indiana Jones does not have anything like this, not even close! Then you need to come to Belize a small country in Central America but more specifically to the Cayo district the “Indiana Jones” destination in all of Belize.  This is really something different, a little daring if you want to call it that way and its called The Black Hole Drop, if you dare to do it. This is where we separate the men from the boys and have big men screaming like little girls.  Do you have what it takes?


 Nestled in the middle of the Belize Rainforest filled with rivers, caves, great places to explore and home to the gaint sinkholes which is home to Actun Loch Tunich “The Monster of all Caves”  You drive for an hour into the Rainforest, Rapel 300 feet into this incredible and massive hole in the earth, eat lunch, explore the cave and climb back up.   Once you are ready the Adventure Tour begins and you hike for one hour to the Black Drop Hole and arriving to this massive carter filled with trees the density of a head of broccoli making it impossible to see the bottom. From where you are you can see white rocks peeping from behind thick vegetation and the top half of a black arch that was once the mouth of the cave.


 Your guide goes through safety issues, precautions, equipment, preparation, the proper way to rapel and what to expect.  Once rigged, you are set and off you go rappelling for the first 200 feet after which the wall curves away from you leaving you hanging and suspended over the forest canopy and the floor.  From this point you rapel and lower yourself down at your own speed which you control by keeping you left hand on the rope above your head and your right hand below your butt  regulating your speed and how quickly you let the  rope slide through your fingers determines your descent speed. Just in case you are wondering, no one ever died doing the Black Hole Drop. 


This is such a surreal experience of a lifetime as your heart thumps in your ears with excitement and adrenaline rushing throughout your body! For the nervous it takes a minute to get your breathing under control and then you enjoy the experience completely as you hear the slight creak of the rope sliding through your rig.  The last 100 feet is at tree top level and a guide patiently waits for you at the bottom anchoring the rope. As you get your bearings on the ground and look up you see the mouth of the cave a short distance away with  green that covered all the surface and with huge palm leaves looking like you stepped into Jurassic Park.


 After lunch inside the cave you do some cave exploration, the ceiling arching like Mother Nature’s Amphiteather with huge stalactites and boulders the size of houses everywhere you look.  Learn about the Ancient Mayas and sacrifices conducted here like at Actun Tunichil Mucnal Cave. Upon the tour culminating you climb a ladder that soars 75 feet straight up the hole wall as you are rigged for safety.  As you reach up a ledge connects the trail for you to reach the top where you begin your hike back to civilization.

Are you adventureous enough to try this Black Hole Drop experience?  Let us know your thoughts and comments.  I would do this adventure in a heartbeat again after all Adventure is my middle name!
                Creating lifetime memories one vacation at a time.  

  

 "Exploring Nature With Expert Naturalist"



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