Lamanai is located on the New River Lagoon and is one of the largest sites in Belize.   About a hundred buildings have been uncovered including NIO-43, which is the largest ruin of the pre-classic Mayan world.  The site is spread across 950 acres.

Occupied between 1500 B.C. and the 19^th century, the city of Lamanai had an extremely long lifetime.  Greatness was received early as the structure NIO-43 proves.  The city went along minding its own business until the first contact with the Spanish.  It even lasted long enough for a Franciscan monk to record its original name Lamanay or Lamayna, thus allowing its name to remain what it always has been.

Besides the two Christian churches, reservoir and the sugar mill, most of the structures are distinctively Mayan.  The most important of these is NIO-43.  Built about 100 B.C, it was preserved in a modified 600 A.D. version.  The discovery of this structure was extremely important.  In the late classic period most of the ceremonial structures were converted to residential quarters thus slowly weakening the hierarchical order.

First discovered in 1917 it was not until 1974 that the site was seriously excavated and preserved by the Royal Ontario Museum.  Before 1974 the site was left untouched except by the occasional passing archaeologist or looter.

The site can only be reached by boat down New River, or by the road from San Felipe, which is usually not accessible during the rainy season.

Lamanai spends its days in the company of the residing families of howler monkeys.  The surrounding reserve is rich in wildlife due to the depletion of surrounding forest by the farmlands.  There is also a rich variety of waterfowl in the surrounding lagoon.  The Lamanai ruins have become a sanctuary for wildlife and history.