Two activities close to my heart are birding and visiting ruins of ancient civilizations. Tikal National Park Guatemala is a perfect place for both, so I am killing two birds with one stone or more accurately, I saw many birds and a few big stones. Anyways, I flew to Flores where I was picked up by a shuttle from the Jungle Lodge and brought to Tikal National Park.
Tikal National Park Guatemala.
Purchase Tikal tickets at the entrance
There is a link one can use to purchase entrance tickets, but for me the link was not working during my visit. It appears that it is now working. If you do not purchase in advance, the shuttle will stop at the entrance and let you buy your tickets, but you have to have cash. The shuttle from the airport to the lodge was $25.00. The shuttle driver courteously stopped at an ATM for me in Flores before we headed out.
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First cool thing we saw from the window was a jaguar crossing sign.
Tikal National Park entrance – Where we bought the tickets.
After purchasing our tickets, the shuttle drove us to the lodge. The Jungle Lodge is literally on the edge of the park, which is in the middle of the jungle. In fact, we saw a jaguar crossing sign about 10 kilometers away, so if that does not tell you that you are in the middle of the jungle, I don’t know what does. I checked in and immediately started birding around the entrance to the park. The Jungle Lodge is as advertised. It is tucked in the jungle with a beautiful cobblestone road that ends at the gates of the park.
Beautiful russet-naped wood rail at the pond in front of the gates of the park.
Birding the gates of Tikal National Park Guatemala
Along with the beautiful trees that are on both sides of the road going in and out of the lodge, the gates of the park were a phenomenal place to bird. There was a pond that had water birds like a bare-throated tiger heron and a couple of russet-naped wood rails. There were also plenty of trees that had summer tanagers, warblers, vireos, and woodpeckers. I saw a white-eyed vireo, which is a migrating species that I have never seen as it goes through Illinois. In fact, I heard one last night while taking a hike in northern Illinois.
Beautiful summer tanager outside the gates of the park.
It was Thanksgiving break for me, and I was on the other side of the hemisphere, so it was nice to see some ocellated turkeys. There were dozens walking along the grass in the area in front of the gates. I continued birding and walking towards the campground area and saw more turkeys along with an agouti and a few lineated woodpeckers. One thing that was nice about the area around the gates was it was fairly open, so it allowed for better lighting for photography.
Ocellated turkey on Thanksgiving.
Collared aracaris along the road in the morning
I woke up early the next morning and birded along the road and again in front of the gates. There were several collared aracaris calling, and I eventually saw one nearly in front of my cabin. Another highlight was a beautiful summer tanager that posed for several shots. As I was taking a picture of the summer tanager, two foxes crossed the road and ran towards some cabins. There were also several coati roaming the area.
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Collared aracari among the trees on the road in the Jungle Lodge.
Collarad aracari.
One of the two foxes that crossed the Jungle Lodge road.
Tikal National Park tour
On day 1, I toured Tikal National Park with one of the guides from the Jungle Lodge. I did three tours: a day tour, a sunset tour, and a sunrise tour. I did the day tour the first day, the sunset tour that night, and a sunrise tour the next morning. The day tour and the sunrise tour was a group tour and the sunset tour, I had a personal guide. The group tours were $15.00 each and the one-on-one tour was $75.00. The personal tour was not worth it. If I had it over again, I would definitely stick to the group tours. If there was a personal birding tour available, that would be cool, but I did not see that option. This could probably be arranged, but I did not ask.
Before you get to the Gran Plaza and the main temples, you start seeing even older ruins.
You do not need a guide for the day tour; however, a guide is required for the sunset and sunrise tour. I enjoyed the day tour, and I feel the $15.00 was well worth it. You could easily do the tour by yourself, but it was nice having someone who knew his way around lead us through the maize of temples and trails.
Gran Plaza Tikal.
The Gran Plaza of Tikal National Park Guatemala.
Sunset Tour Tikal National Park Guatemala
I had a personal guide for the sunset tour. He was a really nice guy, but he wanted to tell me about the astrology of Tikal and how the Mayans were masters of this science and used it to space their temples and buildings. It was really hot at Tikal, so my ability to take in mathematical concepts was somewhat limited, so I really did not feel that I needed to know all of this information. I just wanted to learn about the history of the temples, a little bit about the people, and then experience the temples while watching a sunset. If I felt inspired to learn more, I could purchase a book and read it at home in a cool spot where I could concentrate better. If this is something you are interested in, then this is the guide for you.
Beautiful seeing the sunset over ancient ruins.
Roadside hawk perched atop the jungle canopy.
We climbed to the top of one of the temples and watched a beautiful sunset while howler monkeys barked in the foreground. We saw a roadside hawk siting atop the jungle canopy. It was really a beautiful experience. As scenic as the sunset was, the best part was yet to come as the tour lasted until 8 p.m. which was two hours after the sunset.
Tikal after dark tour.
Best part of the sunset tour was being in Tikal National Park Guatemala during the night
Since we had two more hours, we walked into the Gran Plaza, and we explored the park with only the light of the stars. Although there were no birds, the beauty of the ruins under the stars was magical. My guide had a laser pointer and took a few shots of me in front of the temples with the laser hitting the top of the temples. I never really have explored night photography, and my guide was really helpful showing me the night photography option on my iPhone. The night photos on my iPhone were far superior to the quality of the GoPro night photo option.
Another cool night photo.
Hiking out of the park was also really cool. We saw two tarantulas, a crazy whip scorpion, and a gecko. Tikal definitely had its share of creepy crawlies. We saw a few other really big spiders, so if you suffer from arachnophobia, this may not be the place for you. On the bright side, I only saw the big spiders in the jungle. The rooms at the Jungle Lodge were really clean, and I did not see any spiders indoors.
Gecko in the trees on the walk out of Tikal.
A horse tarantula, which was tarantula number 1.
Horse tarantula number 2.
Sunrise Tour Tikal National Park Guatemala
The sunrise tour was a bust as a thick fog rolled in to cover up the sun. It was kind of cool to be up there in the haze with the sound of the howler monkeys, but it would have been cooler to get some sleep and save $15.00. The birding after the sunrise was pretty solid, but I felt that the birding outside the park was better. I spotted another collared aracari high up in a tree. I also saw a Kentucky warbler, which was a lifer for me. Unfortunately, the lighting in the jungle with the sun being masked by clouds was terrible. Motmots and guans were also seen but not photographed. Orange-breasted falcons nest in the area and are often seen on the sunrise tour, but I did not see them.
The dude’s face in the foreground tells the story. A bunch of people who woke up early to climb a stairs to see a wall of mist.
If you buy a sunrise ticket, you do not need to buy an entrance ticket to the park unless you are planning to go back later or stay longer. The sunrise ticket allows you access to the park for as long as the tour lasts. I bought a day ticket for this day as well, and I left after this tour, so I did not need to buy this ticket.
A collared aracari way up in a tree inside Tikal National Park Guatemala.
Birding until the shuttle leaves
After my sunrise tour ended, my shuttle did not leave until 2 p.m., so I birded around the grounds just outside the gates of the park again. This time, I covered a lot of area near the campground. Highlights included more ocellated turkeys, a great-crested flycatcher, several lineated woodpeckers, a trogon, and another roadside hawk. I am not sure what kind of trogon it was as I only saw its backside. When I tried to circle around in front of it, the bird had taken off.
Lineated woodpecker.
I finally returned to the lodge and had lunch before leaving. A collared aracari landed right outside the dining area on a low hanging tree and made some noise, but I had already put my camera away. Speaking of the lodge, many of my fellow travelers complained about the price and quality of the food. It was pricy, but the lodge was 70 kilometers from civilization, so of course any food items would be more expensive. There were a few local spots, consisting of local entrepreneurs selling Guatemalan food outside the lodge and gates, so if you are looking for a cheaper option, there are some limited choices.
Having a Gallo beer in the Jungle Lodge pool between birding and touring.
Jungle Lodge is highly recommended
I enjoyed my stay at the Jungle Lodge and would recommend and would also definitely return. If I were to do it over again, I would only do a sunset tour and skip the other tours. The guides were really nice and knowledgeable, but I found them to be too chatty at times. Myself and other travelers were frustrated at times with the slowness of the pace of the tours as they stopped and talked too much about certain aspects of the park. I would love to inquire about birding tours in the area if I were to return. The Jungle Lodge also had a nice swimming pool right in the middle of, yes you can guess it, the jungle.
Adventure on
