TOURISTS FLOAT lazily downstream enjoying the sights of the Belizean rainforest. -- Carolyn Mittelstadt, Sun Media files

Taking a trip down a river in a tropical paradise sounds amazing in itself. But throw inner tubes, a pitch-black cave and a strong current into the mix, and the trip turns into a thrilling adventure.

Welcome to Belize, a beautiful country in the western Caribbean that boasts a luscious green rainforest and is filled with an abundance of tropical birds and animals.

Tourism has become the No. 1 industry for Belize -- often referred to as Mother Nature's best kept secret -- and evidenced by the plethora of tour buses waiting to take visitors to their breathtaking destinations.

We arrived at Belize City, via tender, as our Carnival Cruise ship was too big to dock at the pier.

Our cave tubing and rainforest exploration director, Edward, took us on a tour of the city on our way to the rainforest. Riding the bus was an adventure in itself, as our driver navigated narrow streets filled with cyclists and pedestrians.

Belize, which was known as British Honduras until 1973, has a population of 275,000, with 40% under the age of 14. We passed numerous schools and noticed that all students wear uniforms. School is mandatory for children between the ages of six and 14.

After the city tour, we headed west on the Western Highway for about 11/2 hours, the last 10 km over a bumpy jungle road. (There are four main highways in Belize -- the Southern, the Northern, the Western and Hummingbird.)

When our bus reached the edge of the rainforest, we were equipped with an inner tube, a life vest, and one mining headlamp for every two people.

On the rainforest path signs point out different species of plants and trees, so we got a sense of how diverse and lush the rainforest is. The national tree is the gorgeous mahogany, and the national bird is the Froot Loops bird, the toucan. Belize has about 500 species of birds in all.

Once we reached the mouth of the cave and were assured by our guide that there was "nothing in the river that could bite us," we set our inner tubes down and were on our way.

Although the brochure said we would "float lazily downstream observing the cave formations of the limestone cavern," most of the time, tubing seemed like a game of bumper cars. The cave was filled with screams and shrieks of laughter when people would run into each other in the pitch dark.

Losing my tubing partner, who was wearing the headlamp, was a bit scary at first, but my eyes quickly adjusted while others lit the way.

If people felt they were drifting too far, they would just grab onto someone else's tube to push themselves in the right direction. The river outside the cave was shallow and calm in comparison -- that was when we were really able to soak in the scenery.

We got back to Belize City in time to do a bit of shopping at the Tourist Village, which sells beautiful handcrafted goods.

Belize accepts U.S. dollars, and the exchange rate is two Belizean dollars to $1 US. The official language of the country is English, and many Belizeans also speak Spanish as well.

Belize also boasts majestic Mayan ruins, zoos, a wildlife sanctuary, gorgeous national parks, some of the best snorkelling and scuba diving in the world, river rafting, white sand beaches and more.

As our guide Edward would say, the country is absolutely "unBelizeable."

Visit travelbelize.org.