Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve: Entry Fee, Manager and What Is Inside
Verified on 14 November 2026 on the Forest Department of Belize’s Recreation in the Mountain Pine Ridge page and its protected-areas page, and on the Belize Tourism Board’s Mountain Pine Ridge page, read in a browser.
Neither the Forest Department’s recreation page for the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve nor the Belize Tourism Board’s page on it, both read on 14 November 2026, prints an entry fee or opening hours. The one charge the Department publishes is for camping in forest reserves, which requires permission: "$2.50 BZD per person per night for nationals and $5.00 BZD per person per night for non-nationals", or US$1.25 and US$2.50 at Belize’s fixed 2:1 peg (our conversion). The reserve is in the Cayo District. The Forest Department, which lists forest reserves among the five categories of protected area it manages, publishes the reserve’s recreation page and gives its area as 43,333 hectares (107,078 acres); none of the three pages we read names any other manager or co-manager.
What is charged
| Charge | As the Forest Department prints it | US$ (our conversion) |
|---|---|---|
| Entry to the reserve | no fee printed | |
| Camping permit, nationals | $2.50 BZD per person per night | US$1.25 |
| Camping permit, non-nationals | $5.00 BZD per person per night | US$2.50 |
The camping fee is a rule for every forest reserve, not one written for Mountain Pine Ridge: the Department’s protected-areas page says “Persons (locals and foreigners alike) require permission to enter Forest Reserves for the purposes of camping.” It adds that camping under an approved research permit also needs a camping permit, and that for mineral prospecting the Department considers camping permits once the other Departments’ permits are issued.
Two official sources, two sets of figures
The Forest Department and the Belize Tourism Board describe the reserve differently. We print both, attributed, and do not judge between them; neither page explains its figure.
| Forest Department, recreation page | Belize Tourism Board, travelbelize.org | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 43,333 hectares (107,078 acres) | 300,000 acres |
| Rio Frio Cave | roughly 240 meters long, from insurgence to resurgence | a quarter-mile cave (spelled Rio Fri Cave on the page) |
| Thousand Foot Falls | a natural monument “located to the northeast of the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve”, surrounded by privately owned lands | named among the sites found within the reserve’s 300,000 acres |
| The waterfall | 1,600 foot-high, “believed to be the highest waterfall in Central America”, citing Wildtracks (2011) | “the largest fall of Belize and the Central American region” |
| Setting | south central Belize, Cayo District | the highlands of the southern zone of western Belize |
The reserve, in the Forest Department’s description
The Department calls the reserve “a unique ecosystem in the region”, with a tropical climate, at an altitude of 350 m to 980 m above sea level. It is covered with Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis and P. patula ssp. tecunumani, which the Department says are endemic to the area, with patches of hardwood and riparian hardwood gallery forests along the creeks. Protected areas border it, except at the northeast corner, which borders the private properties Hidden Valley and Bull Run, and the northwestern corner, bordered by the Enclave.
A forest reserve, in the Department’s definition, is “Any area reserved for the sustainable extraction of timber.” Forest reserves are described in the Forest Reserves (Consolidated) Order, and the Department counts them among Belize’s 103 protected areas.
The sites the Department describes
Rio On Pools. Rio On, a sub catchment of the Macal River, left “one of the largest exposed granite riverbeds in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve” when flood swept away its thin soils. Because the granite is heated daily by the sun, the Department says there are few blackflies, and the small rock pools “drastically change temperature through the day, becoming very warm during mid-day and cold at night”, citing Dr. Ed Boles (2020).
Rio Frio Cave Complex. The region takes in the Twin Caves (Rio Frio Caves A and B), Rio Frio Cave (C), Rio Frio Caves D and E, Closing Jaw Cave and Tunel Cave. Rio Frio Cave (C) was “First identified and excavated by Gregory Mason, a journalist turned anthropologist in 1928 and in 1940”; the Department gives it as over 40 to 50 meters wide by 30 meters high, a large limestone cave through which the Rio Frio flows underground, and, under Uses of Caves, lists after Thompson (1959, 1975) uses, from drinking water and religious rites to burials and places of refuge.
Pinol Sands. Where a Pinol Creek tributary crosses the A10 road it forms the Pinol Sands Pool, at an elevation of approximately 398 meters on a granite base. Unlike the Rio On pools it is shallow, with a sandy beach, which the Department says makes it “a favourite swimming area for children.” The Department says the area is gradually recovering from the effects of fires and of a Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) infestation, and currently holds pine specimens 8 to 10 meters tall.
Thousand Foot Falls Natural Monument. It covers 1,290 acres (522.5 ha), is one of Belize’s smallest protected areas, and was designated a natural monument in 2004. Its main activities, per the Department, are sightseeing, hiking, camping and birdwatching.
What the tourism board adds
The Belize Tourism Board’s page says the reserve offers cool temperatures, that expeditions can be made by mountain bike, on foot or on horseback, with horses for hire on site, and names tapir, cougar, jaguar and ocelot among its animal life. It prints no price for horse hire.
Getting there
None of the three pages gives a distance, a drive time or road conditions. Car-rental companies’ own warnings about the reserve’s roads are on our Belize car rental costs page, a San Ignacio operator’s Mountain Pine Ridge tour price is on our San Ignacio and Cayo page, and tour itineraries that stop at Rio On Pools and Rio Frio Cave on the way to the Maya site are on our Caracol page.
What the Forest Department and the tourism board don’t publish
On the three pages we read on 14 November 2026:
- An entry fee or opening hours for the reserve, or for Rio On Pools, the Rio Frio caves, Pinol Sands or the Thousand Foot Falls Natural Monument.
- Where and how to apply for a camping permit. The protected-areas page states the fee and that permission is needed, not the office.
- A distance or drive time to the reserve or to any site in it.
- Big Rock. A stop named in one Caracol itinerary on our Caracol page, it appears on neither the Forest Department’s page nor the tourism board’s.
How we researched this
Scope: this page reports source research, not a visit. Every page below was read on 14 November 2026. We requested the Forest Department’s Recreation in the Mountain Pine Ridge page and its protected-areas page. The Belize Tourism Board’s page refused a scripted request with a challenge page, and was read in a browser the same day. The area, altitude, forest, borders and every site description come from the recreation page; the forest-reserve definition, the five categories and the camping rules and fees from the protected-areas page; the 300,000 acres, the quarter-mile cave and the activities from the tourism board. The US-dollar figures are our conversion.
Sources
- Forest Department — Recreation in the Mountain Pine Ridge — 43,333 hectares (107,078 acres), the Cayo District, 350 m to 980 m, the pines and borders; Rio On Pools; the Rio Frio Cave Complex and Rio Frio Cave (C), with Gregory Mason, 1928 and 1940, and its dimensions; Pinol Sands at about 398 meters; the Thousand Foot Falls Natural Monument’s 1,290 acres, 2004 designation, location outside the reserve and 1,600 foot-high waterfall; no fee or hours
- Forest Department — Protected Areas — the 103 protected areas, the five categories it manages, the forest-reserve definition and the Forest Reserves (Consolidated) Order, the camping permission rule and fees, research and prospecting camping
- Belize Tourism Board — Mountain Pine Ridge — 300,000 acres, the quarter-mile cave, Thousand Foot Falls described as within the reserve and as the largest fall of Belize and the region, the activities, horse hire and wildlife; no fee or hours
Last verified: 2026-11-14
Written by Estuardo Enriquez. This site is independent, carries no affiliate relationship with any operator or authority named here, and is not connected to any previous owner of this domain.