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About 19km out of Belmopan the road crosses the Caves Branch River , a tributary of the Sibun River. Just beyond, by the roadside on the right, is St Herman's Cave (US$4, includes entrance to the Blue Hole). Follow the marked trail behind the Visitor Centre (daily 8am-4pm) for ten minutes to the cave entrance, beneath a dripping rock face; you'll need a flashlight to enter, down steps that were originally cut by the Maya. Inside, you clamber over the rocks and splash through the river for about thirty minutes, admiring the stunning natural formations, before the accessible section of the cave ends. Two kilometres past the cave, signed from the roadside, is the Blue Hole National Park , centred on a beautiful pool whose cool turquoise waters, surrounded by dense forest and overhung with vines, mosses and ferns, are perfect for a refreshing dip - the "Hole" is actually a short but deep stretch of underground river, whose course is revealed by a collapsed karst cavern. Trails lead through the dense surrounding forest and there's a campsite 4km from the visitor centre. Any bus between Belmopan and Dangriga will drop you at the cave or the Blue Hole, but to really appreciate the mysteries of caving in Belize you can stay nearby at the Caves Branch Jungle Lodge (tel & fax 822-2800, caves@pobox.com ; cabanas US$60-80, bunkhouse US$15 per person, camping US$5 per person), halfway between St Herman's Cave and the Blue Hole and about 1km from the highway. The guided cave and rappelling trips run by the lodge are not cheap (about US$75 per person), but well worth it for the experience. All the caves contain Maya artefacts - ceramics, carvings and the like - furnishing abundant evidence of the Classic-period ceremonies that were held in them. Beyond the Blue Hole the Hummingbird Highway undulates smoothly through the hilly landscape, eventually crossing a low pass. The downhill slope is appropriately, if unimaginatively, called Over the Top . On the way down, the road passes through St Margaret's Village , where a women's cooperative arranges B&B accommodation in private houses (tel 081/2005; US$10-15). Over the Top Restaurant (now closed) stands on a hill at Mile 32, overlooking the junction of the track to Five Blues Lake National Park , seventeen square kilometres of luxuriantly forested karst scenery, centred on the lake named for its constantly changing colours. Beyond here is the start of the Stann Creek valley , the centre of the Belizean citrus fruit industry, heralded as one of the nation's great success stories - although for the largely Guatemalan labour force, housed in rows of scruffy huts, conditions are little better than on the oppressive coffee fincas at home. The Hummingbird Highway officially comes to an end at Middlesex , 18km past Over the Top, and continues as the Stann Creek Valley Road.
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