Jungle trek to El Mirador
5 days
This a fantastic opportunity to join a 5-day jungle trek to El Mirador, where you will traverse diverse ecosystems and explore monumental sites of The Mayan Kingdom of Kan, also known as “The Snake Dynasty.” Your journey through the rainforest will lead you to one of the most secluded and genuinely lost excavated ruins – El Mirador.
La Danta
Pyramid in El Mirador
El Mirador
Ancient Mayan art
El Mirador
Stunning ornaments
Expedition
Jungle trek to the lost Mayan City
Highlights
The reward for those travelers who make the trek is glorious – an opportunity to observe the most extraordinary jewel of Maya culture. The payoff for those who make the trek is sublime. It is a chance to see one of the most impressive gems of Mayan culture with sophisticated structures, such as La Danta pyramid. This pyramid has a volume of 2.8 million cubic meters and unique architectural designs. It has the biggest known pyramid in the Maya world in terms of volume, by various calculations, and virtually the size of the pyramids in Egypt.
Itinerary
The first day of the adventure of the jungle trek to El Mirador begins with an early morning transfer by car from Flores Island to Carmelita community where the walk begins. The village of Carmelita is the nearest point to the site that you can get to by car.
It is not easy to get to El Mirador, because no roads or rivers are leading to the site, but it is definitely worth the trip. After 6 or 8 hours, you will reach the archaeological site called El Tintal, located in a small water reservoir that is located within a protected area, where the camp is installed to rest.
On the second day, the hike is restarted for approximately 6 hours. During the trek, you will experience the feeling of being consumed by a jungle so vast as far as the eye can see. It is so still, yet so alive. The sounds of howler monkeys screaming in the evening and finding fresh jaguar footprints in your way are quite spectacular. The sights, the smells, and the hundreds of different species of insects and animals provide a sensory overload. At the end of the day, you will reach the majestic archaeological site of El Mirador where the camp is installed again. We will have dinner and relax.
Today you will have the time for an exploration walk through El Mirador, known as “The Lost City of the Maya”. This huge archaeological site is the largest in the Mayan world and is known as the cradle of this civilization. El Mirador (which means “The Lookout”) is in the jungles of northern Guatemala. It is a vast area of virgin rainforest and dozens of Mayan ruins, including several large cities with huge structures and many square miles of unrestored mounds and pyramids covered in vegetation.
At its culmination, the once colossal Mayan city spread over nearly ten miles, emulated only by the equally gigantic and equally abandoned ‘sister’ across the border of Mexico, the Mayan City of Calakmul. With no actual water source and few natural resources, scientists are still dubious about how the civilization at El Mirador prospered.
Discovered only by harvesters, who would wander through gigantic swaths of the jungle in search of trees to tap for their natural rubber sap, El Mirador sits abandoned by archaeologists until 1926. Yet it was not until 2003 that investigators began to work at the site, which sits just four miles south of the Mexican border. Even nowadays, only a minuscule portion of the structures and temples have been excavated.
Today begins the walk back, following the same route. Therefore, you will hike for approximately 6 hours until we reach the site of El Tintal, a pre-classic archaeological site that features a sophisticated irrigation system. This site is still largely not excavated, and here the camp will be installed to spend the night.
Today a trek of 6 to 8 hours to the Carmelita community ends the trek through the Peten jungle. This is a traditional community settled in the heart of the Maya jungle since the early 1900s. The inhabitants of Carmelita live in harmony with the forest.
The community is responsible for the protection, management, and conservation of the area. More than 97% of the natural forest is conserved here. A driver will take you back to your hotel in Flores Island.
map, expenses & price
Jungle trek to El Mirador
Expenses included:
-Private transportation.
-All meals and purified water during the trek
-Entrance fee for the archeological site.
-Community guides and a cook
-All park entrance fees.
-Camping and cooking equipment.
*This tour is exclusively available to guests who plan their trip with us.
Extensions
For the majority of adventure travelers, this type of deep-seated, off-the-beaten-track unique excursion is Guatemala at its best. In this huge National Park, the bird watching excursions are dedicated to spotting and photographing not just macaws but hundreds of other aerial species found in and around the reservoir, counting red-capped manakin, red-legged honeycreeper, and long-tailed hermit. Duration from: 2 days. Price per guest from $380
Guatemala is acclaimed because of its lagoons, lakes, and natural pools. But the Blue Crater is the top of the heap. So immaculate, so crystal that is unimaginable. Explore this magnificent natural reservoir in the northern jungle canopy of Guatemala and swim in submerged garden heaven known as the Blue Crater. Sensation at the deep blue crystal pure lagoon water and underwater plant ecological community, a maritime heaven experience in the jungle. Duration: one day. Price per guest from $150
Guests will go through nine platforms in this cable circuit that winds through the biggest trees. You will float past exotic birds, delightful scenes, and unbelievable wildlife on this enchanting experience that holds your safety and pleasure into account always. Before the tour comes to an end, guests will have the opportunity of riding a horse or tractor through the plantation before having lunch and some free time to relax. Duration: half day. Price per guest from $40
This Mayan site is the third-largest in Guatemala, just behind Tikal and El Mirador. It is all the same time, quite off the beaten track and so contributes to bringing smaller groups than other Mayan ruins. This makes it excellent for tourists who would like to have the flexibility to explore the site without any other travelers around. The dramatic ruins sit between two captivating lakes and it is situated about 30 kilometers southeast of Tikal and 75 kilometers from Flores Island. Duration: half day. Price per guest from $80
