Hiking Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve

Mayan ruins at Tikal

Visit the caves of the Zotz bat, climb an unexcavated Mayan ruin to view the summit of the famed Tikal temple, and trek through primary forest within the Maya Biosphere Reserve. The three-day hike along the Zotz-Tikal Trail covers over 50 kilometers and begins in a community called El Cruce a Dos Aguadas, a pueblo situated on the edge of the reserve. Here you will meet your guides: locals who have grown up in the jungle, played in the jungle, learned in the jungle, experienced the jungle every day — who are undoubtedly one with the jungle.

Your first stop will be La Piramide del Diablo, or Pyramid of the Devil, an unexcavated ruin covered in mud and moss. It is here that you can get a glimpse of your final destination, the temples of Tikal, rising gloriously above the canopy of the jungle.

And just as with the Scarlet Macaw Trail, the range of bird species spotted along the hike and the diversity of other jungle inhabitants is breathtaking and always spontaneous.

At day's end, before setting up camp in the jungle, hike an extra half-hour or so to the bat caves, called El Zotz (Zotz is the Mayan word for bat). Here, just as the sun is setting, thousands of screeching bats exit their daytime hibernation in the caves, and make their dinnertime flight into the moonlight. The sight is incredible!

The hike is strenuous and your body undoubtedly will be sore upon reaching the Tikal ruins, your final destination. But the site is well worth the effort.

Tikal was a prime city of the Maya. At least 10,000 people lived within the mapped portion of the city, which encompasses six square miles. There were 3,000 separate constructions, including temples, palaces, shrines, ceremonial platforms, residences, ball courts, terraces, causeways, and plazas. In the main ceremonial precincts there are 200 stone monuments, known as stelae. Stelae were elaborately carved with glyphs, a form of writing, and other images. The employment of stelae was not general in Mayan culture, and seems to have been confined to the southern portion of their lands, principally around Tikal.

The heart of Tikal is the Great Plaza, surrounded by enormous temples. Temple I, known as the Temple of the Great Jaguar, looks to the west through the plaza from a height of over 170 feet. Temple II, which faces it, is called the Temple of Masks and reaches to the sky at 139 feet. Temple IV, the highest in the area, stands at about 200 feet.