Mayflower Bocawina National Park

Mayflower Bocawina National Park is composed of around 7,100 acres of preserved land in the Stann Creek District of Belize. The park encompasses a variety of recreational opportunities, including hiking, wildlife watching, camping, swimming, and historical sites. Additionally, new sites and features within the park continue to be found, creating an evolving park with additional opportunities for those visiting.

The central point for the park is the visitor center, which can be reached by walking down a short path from the parking area. The center contains displays of historical artifacts found at the Mayan sites inside the park, and it has the most current map of park locations and features. An on-duty ranger can answer questions about the park.

There are three Mayan historical ruins currently reachable inside the park, although it is thought that there may be several more that have yet to found uncovered.

• Mayflower Mayan Ruins is the most accessible, lying just across the street from the visitor center. It contains 11 total structures, with two larger pyramid temples. Very minimal work has been done to the site, and it sits in an undeveloped state. Outside of a few signs, there is little information offered to the visitor about the structures or site itself.
• Tau Witz Mayan Ruins is reachable by a 0.75-mile trail that leaves from the right edge of the Mayflower site. Tau Witz has one large undeveloped structure and a standing stela, a gravestone commonly used in the ancient world, deep in the forest, lying beside the only known granite quarry used by Mayans in the area.
• Maintzunun is a single sizeable unimproved temple standing about 45 feet tall near the beginning of the Antelope Falls Trail.

The park is home to at least 197 species of birds, while Baird's tapir, black howler monkey, coati, jaguar, ocelot, and several dozen species of bats are among the known species found throughout the park boundaries.

Several waterfalls tend to be amongst the biggest attractions inside the park, with a few lying along the looping Bocawina Trail. These falls include Upper and Lower Bocawina Falls, Tears of the Jaguar Waterfall, Pecks Waterfall, and Big Drop Waterfall. The trail to Antelope Falls allows visitors to swim in an emerald pool atop one of the tallest waterfalls in Belize at over 1,000 feet.

Currently, backcountry camping is allowed in several parts of the park, along with tent camping at a marked campground near the visitor center. Licensed tour guides offer a much more informative visit. See MayflowerBocawina.org for more information, including contacts. Park admission fees are $10BZ for non-residents and $2BZ for residents. Park operating hours are daily from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Additional information can be found by inquiring at the visitor center when entering the park.