Tikal is an ancient city, which at one time was one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya.

The city is thought to have been abandoned around 900 AD and subsequently reclaimed by the jungle for nearly a 1,000 years before being formally rediscovered in the late 19th century.

We took a flight from Guatemala City to Flores just to see the ancient Mayan city of Tikal, saving an 12 hour overland bus journey. it was only our second flight since landing in Panama back in December last year.

Flores itself is a small town set by a lake, with a small island within it joined to the mainland by a bridge.

It’s a cute little town and it is the main jumping off point for tours to the Tikal National Park around a 60-90 mins drive away.

We decided to take a sunset tour of the park, arriving mid afternoon and staying until after the park closes to watch the sunset. The sunrise tour is meant to be the more popular option but getting up at 3am…

Major construction at Tikal is thought to have started around 400–300 BC, the city was eventually abandoned by the 10th century.

The site is large, with over 3,000 structures, apparently only around 5% of the city is excavated and visible. There are major temples and various other stone buildings, including one dedicated to astrology, with sight points for the winter and summer solstices.

Above, an old Ceiba tree, thought by the Maya to be sacred and represent the universe, the earth and the spirit world.

The national park has plenty of wildlife, the sunrise and sunset tours allow you to hear them best in the jungle.

We saw a couple of Toucans and the red ‘angry’ bird below. There are also five species of cats, including Jaguars and Pumas in the park along with monkeys and anteaters.

There is a lot of information regarding the dynasties of the Mayan leaders at this site noting 33 different rulers.

There are also some suggestions that it was invaded by another ancient tribe around the 4th century.

At its peak, it is thought that around 90,000 people may have inhabited the city,

The Tikal National Park sits within the Maya Biosphere Reserve, an area of over 21,000 square kilometres, or one fifth of the country’s land mass!

In 1956 a project was initiated to map and excavate the site which lasted many years, with the University of Pennslyvania’s involvement.

It is not known as to why the city was abandoned. Some theories suggest that newer. river based trade routes meant its location was no longer relevant, others that perhaps disease culled the population or perhaps the mercury used in the paint on the buildings seeped into the drinking water to cause illness. our guide suggested Aliens might be an option too!

The site has been used as a set in both a Star Wars and a James Bond movie.

You can climb a couple of the temples, a wooden staircase is used to avoid damage to the stones, the ancient stones feel sturdier though!

For a site of such importance, there were few people there, allowing us to roam the site with our guide without any rushing around.

Above is an Osselated Turkey, wandering the grounds freely.

Above, a reimagined drawing of how the pyramid structure would have been engineered to point in the correct direction.

Sunset came but we were not treated to a massive light show unfortunately, but we could still hear the jungle’s alertness to the changes as dusk approached.

We saw Coatis scurry around the monuments in the late afternoon, quite oblivious to us visitors.

We walked back through the park after sunset, trying not to trip over numerous tree roots and stones in the darkness.

Just as we came to the final exit path a guide spotted this tarantula spider hiding in its burrow.

That got me sticking closer to the path and walking a bit faster!

A fascinating place to visit, well worth the time to get there and back as well as the heat of the jungle!

That’s our last stop in Guatemala which has been a real gem, tomorrow we cross three countries to get to Roatan in Honduras.