Extreme Sports

My Danish friend, Kristina, arranged last weekend's visit to Caves Branch Jungle Lodge, and all I had to do was turn up at the bus station by 5.50am on Saturday morning. As someone who is safety conscious and never goes out on foot after dark, it seemed ironic that I was happily walking to the bus station in the pitch dark first thing in the morning. A few voices murmured from the shadows to ask if I needed escorting to the bus stop, but I declined and arrived safely on my own.

Five of us had decided to make a weekend of it. The Rough Guide glows with praise for the adventure activities available at Caves Branch, also mentioning that the food is good and the showers have hot water. This all sounded promising, and we left Kristina to choose which of the extreme sports on offer we would try. I secretly hoped it wouldn't be rapelling (like abseiling, but without a solid wall), or horseriding through the jungle, or spelunking (I don't even know what that is but it sounds painful). Other activities on offer included climbing up waterfalls then leaping 15 feet from the top into a pool below, or abseiling 80 feet down a black hole into a river cave.

Anyway, at 8.30am we were introduced to our guide, Pablo, who told us what fun we were going to have cave tubing. Pablo led us to the Caves Branch River, and gave us all a lifejacket and a large inner tube and told us to get in the water. I was first in, and foolishly got inside the tube like a lifebelt. Pablo patiently explained that I should recline on the tube, as I was going to paddle, not walk or swim, in the river.

When we were all set, Pablo showed us how to guide the tube with our arms, and told us at all costs to steer clear of the banks, especially where the bamboo was growing, and off we went.

Immediately Kristina and her tube were drawn like a magnet to the bamboo on the nearest bank, and she promptly capsized. Kristina can't swim, but amazingly she didn't panic. I was closest to her, and Pablo called out to me to grab her arm while he rescued the tube. We soon had her back on board her vessel, and off we went again, this time sticking like glue to Pablo.

The rapids were fun, and OK they weren't big deal white water rapids like in the Rocky Mountains, but they were fast enough and swirly enough for beginners like us.

After a couple of miles, we came to a pebbly beach and Pablo instructed us to leave the water. We then carried our tubes through the jungle for about half an hour before re-entering the water at the mouth of the first cave.

This was the first time on the trip I felt a little apprehensive. Did I really want to lie on an inner tube and let the fast flowing water take me into the pitch black darkness, where, according to Pablo, we would see not only stalactites, stalagmites, and crystal formations, but vampire bats and large spiders?

Before I got in the water at the start of the journey I had extracted a guarantee from Pablo that there would be no snakes or crocodiles, so I decided not to mention now my reservations about the dark, the bats and the spiders, and just get on with it.

We all put on our headlamps, and ventured into the cave. Kristina and I never strayed from the ever patient Pablo, who looked after us like we were babies. Nikki , Mark's Belizean girlfriend, mostly stuck with our little nursery group, though occasionally she was brave enough to go it alone with Mark and Antro, who of course showed how macho they were by forging ahead.

Unfortunately Mark was far enough ahead not to hear Pablo's instructions of 'stay away from the rocks on the left' - we realised this when we heard the splash and the cursing. Another man overboard!

We spent the next couple of hours gliding or hurtling - depending on whether or not there were rapids - through a spectacular system of caves. Some were so low we had to lay flat to avoid scraping our heads on the ceilings; some opened out into huge cathedral-like caverns with wonderful formations of stalactites and stalagmites and glittering crystal walls. At times in the rapids the water was so shallow we were touching the pebbly river bed, and desperately tried to arch our backs as we painfully bumped along.

My favourite part was the 'windows'; the breaks in the cave walls that exposed the jungle foliage and the steep river banks, letting in the bright sunshine and creating wonderful dramatic scenery.

Eventually, we emerged from our final cave on to a wide pebbly beach, and like a magician Pablo was suddenly laying a white linen tablecloth on the ground, and piling it with a delicious picnic of floury tortillas, fresh salads, cheeses and cooked meats.

We tucked into the food as if we hadn't eaten for days, then laid on the warm stones, replete, to rest our weary bones.

Pablo then explained that we had to climb a little way up the cliff on the opposite river bank, and trek through the jungle for the final leg of our journey. From nowhere, without warning, a tropical downpour began, and although we were wet from tubing, we were suddenly totally drenched, discovering that we could get even wetter.

All this rain made the jungle paths treacherously slippery, and I was the one who fell flat on my back in the mud. I was now soaking wet and coated in mud from head to toe. Not to worry, a good deal of the mud was washed off on our last dash by tube down the river.

After getting out of the water for the last time, we had a short walk to where the Caves Branch Lodge bus was waiting for us, complete with piles of fluffy dry towels.

We were all grateful to get back to the Lodge, shower, and re-group for Happy Hour in the bar. Dinner was good, and our jungle bungalow was simple luxury, with comfy beds and huge uncurtained windows which meant we could see and hear the sights and sounds of the jungle without getting up and going outside. Hammocks on our verandah completed this idyll.

After dinner, a member of staff came to ask what activity we'd like to do on Sunday. Without hesitation, I put my name down for the aromatherapy massage, and Kristina and Nikki followed suit.