Semuc Champey, Natural limestone pools in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala

Semuc Champey is a natural limestone formation in the Alta Verapaz Department of Guatemala stretching roughly 300 meters across the Cahabón River. A sequence of tiered pools with turquoise and green water forms on its surface while the river flows through a tunnel beneath.

The site was already recorded as the Champey hamlet in the 1892 census. In the mid-1950s, Lanquín municipal secretary Francisco Reyes Narciso reported its beauty after authorities went to help Benjamín Rosales, injured while fishing. President Álvaro Arzú Irigoyen declared it a Natural Monument in 1999.

The Q'eqchi' name breaks into xmuq (hide), cham (deep) and pek (stone), describing the Cahabón River vanishing beneath the limestone shelf. The site lies near the Q'eqchi' Maya town of Lanquín, and the 1892 census already recorded a hamlet called Champey in the municipality. Visitors today share one visitor centre with the neighbouring Grutas de Lanquín national park.

The road to the entrance follows a winding gravel track that is often rough and most visitors hire a local driver from the town of Lanquín. A steep lookout trail offers an overview of the pools and requires roughly 45 minutes of climbing through jungle terrain.

The water in the pools does not come from the main river but from smaller streams that flow down the slopes and collect on the limestone surface. The Cahabón itself is audible beneath the bridge and reemerges roughly 400 meters downstream where the water bursts foaming from the rock.