Augustine / Douglas d’Silva | Established Campground

Run down place. Nobody here. But... water, toilets, BBQ ring, shower. Free. Right behind the football terrain.

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Run down place. Nobody here. But... water, toilets, BBQ ring, shower. Free. Right behind the football terrain.

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Forestry and Ranger Station camp ground. as the previous reviewer has said, you need to get a permit from San Ignatio. 20 bze dollars for 4 for 2 nights.
run down place but running water and flushing toilets and large palapa with benches and table. It's great to pitch tents and hang hammocks underneath. Very quiet, saw no one, great birding, and heard howler monkeys at night. Great base to explore attractions like Rio on pools Rio frio caves and jungle hiking trails very close by.

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Place is pretty much rundown. There is water available and showers and toilets, but not in good conditions. Other than that it is okay to stay there.
But you have to pay a permit (5BZD pppn), which is ridiculous for what you get there.
The road to get there is under construction. If it rained recently it becomes a muddy hell in some places, so be aware of that!

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Good place to spend the night inside the park. You need a permit from the forestry office to stay there. This way the guards will know you're coming and will cleanup the place, turn on the water and so on.

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Nice as described. Run down but perfect.
Ghost town really. Safe and super quiet.

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Nice little campsite, has everything, running water was off when we got there but you can turn it on at the outside valve on the right side of the right washroom, it's a red tap on white plastic pipe.

Scout around for the Tarantula holes, these spiders are usually harmless to humans but look pretty cool.

We were asked twice if we had a permit [we had] but nobody ever cared to see it. It's a bit convoluted to get one, visit forestry office in Belmopan, they give you a paper that you then need to go to the Treasury by the cop shop 1km away to pay, return with receipt then they hand over the permit.

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we spend two nights here. it's an pretty cute campground. we loved it.
the toilets and showers are open and with running water!!
at the park entrance we said we will camp at the pine ridge lodge campground, so nobody asked for a permission.
very very quiet at night.
two horses hanging around in this little town, you can pet them:)
we saw a Tarantel and a lot of parrots!

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Arrived late and the place was entirely empty. toilet and shower blocks were locked and the outside tap wasn't working. lovely place to spend the night though and nobody asked for a forestry permit, despite the anxiety of the guy at the park gate that they wouldn't let me stay without.

The guy at the army checkpoint enough route to Caracol said they don't have the resource to send patrols out every day, but he was '99% sure' it would be fine to go alone! Road was bumpy and dusty but entirely doable in my RWD auto; could well be a different story after rain though. Don't be tempted to put your foot down when you get to the paved section towards the end, it has some vicious potholes!

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We spent 5 nights here. You do need a permit from the forestry service in San Ignacio but no one asks for it except for the man at the front entrance to the park. No one even cam and spoke to us for the first 3 days. Some military guys came around and asked a few questions one afternoon and directly after the forestry man came and asked if we were ok and to make sure the military guys didnt try and do anything wrong, so it was nice to know someone was actually looking out for us. Still running water, cold showers and flush toilets, just bring your own paper. Beautiful area, no one around but lots of sand flies and mosquitos, bring bug spray.

This is apparently the only place you can camp in the park so we just spent our nights here and the days exploring other things. very beautiful area!

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Get the camping permit in San Ignacio or Belmopan forestry office. However they will let you stay without it too. Forestry guys said people don't know about the permit as it's only 3 months in effect (they didn't read the comment from 2017?! 😁) and it's not posted very well. You are not allowed to camp anywhere else in the park. There is bathroom with flushing toilets, cold showers and sinks here, shelters with picnic tables, lots of space to pitch a tent or park your big rig. Parrots chirping, monkeys howling, really nice place...

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Didn’t stay here but place is still opening has everything mentioned in prior posts. There was about 30 laborers staying here help with the fires and building structures

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You need a permit from forest service to camp here. Forest service station is just before the campground. Camping is safe. They don't let you leave even though you don't have a permit.
2. The convoy with military is still valid at 9 AM. and 2 PM return. It is not compulsory and area is safe for many years. You can drive to Caracol alone.
There are flush toilets, showers and running water at campsite. Campground is really beautiful. Very quiet.

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We arrived late and it was the perfect spot to spend a peaceful night before heading to caracol the next morning.
The road is bumpy, we had no problems with our truck camper (F350) just go slow!

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Very relaxing place with plenty of birds and hiking trails. We arrived a very rainy day and parked 2 nights in front the forest ranger station located on chiquibul road ( main road) because the campground was too muddy for our motorhome.
Rangers offer us to take water from a rain water tank nearby. the permit to stay overnight is delivered only at forest department office located in Belmopan, forest road. We didn't have permit and they let us stay during 5 nights.

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We spoke with many rangers and the military in the area.. it sounds like there haven't really been any security issues for many years.

We spent 6 days camping and exploring the area and never felt unsafe or talked to anyone who was concerned about security. The military no longer appears to run the convoy to Caracol, although you are asked to check in and then out on your way past the camp.

We pulled in to investigate what we thought was an abandoned forestry station and campground. We were very surprised to find running water, cold showers, and flush toilets here too. Several palapas and quanset huts surround the campground and are generally serviceable and in good condition.

There is even a night security guy, Israel who has worked in the area for 28 years and knows the park like the back of his hand. He even guided us an hour to the edge of the park to his favorite view point at baldy beacon on his off time during the day.

This is the only officially sanctioned place to camp inside pine ridge and you are supposed to get a permit from the forestry Dept in Belmopan. The rangers we met are all very welcoming and relaxed. I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you have a permit, but I can't see them ever sending anyone away unless the higher ups really begin pushing the policy.

We really liked the camping ground at Douglas deSilva. Of the other good places to spend the night, it was certainly the quietest and is easy walking distance to Rio Frio cave and the other caves in the area.

It was also fun to camp among all the abandoned buildings. It felt like we were camping inside an abandoned WWII base in the South Pacific.

We stayed 3 nights here and two at 1000 foot falls.

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Due to recent security issues, camping in this area is not recommended anymore. It seems that there have been reported robberies of travelers from guatemalan robberrs. There is a military station in the area trying to avoid any robberies on the way to Caracol - to stay perfectly safe join the convoy to Caracol at 9am at the station, soldiers are returning around 2pm.

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WARNING! This area is close to a conflict zone between illegal Guatemalan loggers and Belize military. Make sure to let the army base know about your presence and follow their advice on the current situation. We were asked to camp inside the base, which proved to be an interesting experience. On our visit to Caracol next day, we witnessed a guard get shot. He died on the spot. The area is beautiful and safe to visit as long as you play by the rules. Don't camp stealth.

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Cute FREE campsite on the way to Caracol. There had toilet (but without water?) And covered picnic areas. Was super quiet and nice and cool at night.

Price: Free

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