A memorable Mayan civilization and jungle experience at Tikal @ Guatemala

If you have a bucket list, I highly recommended Tikal National Park to be on your list. The Mayan temple complex in #Tikal was the shooting location of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It was the backdrop of the rebel base on planet YAVIN 4 seen towards the end of the movie. Despite of the fact that only 15% of the city has been excavated. It’s still breathtaking. The whole ‘city’ was enveloped by jungle since the Mayan abandoned it in 900 A.D.. It was only rediscovered in 1848. I did the sunrise tour and it was worth the effort of getting up at 3am to be at the site at 4.30am when it was quiet and dark, adding that mysterious feeling while we made our way to the top of one of the temples. During that one hour of wait, everyone was holding the breath in the dark, I could only hear the birds singing their morning rhymes. When the sun rises, the top of the temples just revealed in front of you, which was like the veil being removed and unbelievable structures suddenly appeared at dawn. Apart from the Mayan history and architecture, I was also surprised to see so many different species of bird (there are more than 500 of them but I only saw five!), animals and plants. This trip is definitely top three of my ‘must seen’ list.