Event: Guatemala - Flores

Tikal National Park

When:	Daily
Where:	Tikal National Park
Costs:	Various
Opening Hours:	Various

The Mayan ruins of Tikal are one of the great wonders of the world. Set in dense rainforest with trees reaching heights of 50 metres and more, they are also home to an enormous variety of animal and plant life. Since the demise of the Mayan Empire in about 800AD, the jungle has taken back the land, with just a few towers of the sacrificial temples looming above the forest canopy...

The ruins certainly rival all the other famous Central and South American ancient sites, and bear witness to the sophistication of Mayan society. Dominated by five enormous steep-sided granite pyramids looming 40 metres high from the forest floor, they also include thousands of other structures and many more that have yet to be excavated. The site itself is surrounded by a National Park - a protected area of 370 square kilometres - which borders the Maya Biosphere Reserve that reaches northwards to the Mexican Border.

Ruins aside, Tikal is worth a visit to experience a taste of primary forest life. The climate supports thousands of species of trees including mahogany, aguacate, ebony, sapodilla and the ceiba. Among their leaves and branches toucans, hummingbirds, hawks, parrots and endangered scarlet macaws have made their homes. The life here is not only colourful, but has proved crucial to modern medicine too: for example, frogs from this forest have supplied the modern anaesthetist with tetrodoxin (apparently 100,000 times stronger than cocaine).

Given the enormity of Tikal and its surroundings, most stay for more than a day. There are a couple of places to stay within the jungle zone, which is a fantastic way to take everything in. If the night skies don't keep you awake, the sounds of nocturnal creatures will. Howler monkeys always have a lot to screech about and are almost impossible to ignore.