An Avian Wonderland in Guatemala’s Tikal

I am sitting in the ruins of the Plaza Mayor, the one-time ceremonial gathering place in this 1,400-year-old Mayan city, waiting for the “concert” to begin. It’s 5:30 a.m. and the sunlight is just starting to filter through the thick jungle canopy that envelops the ruins.

Sunrise in the Guatemalan jungle is that magical hour when the nocturnal birds, insects, reptiles and animals try to get to bed, and the daylight beasts try to eat them before they get there.

The symphony begins with the flutelike songs of the melodious blackbirds, followed by a chorus of high caws from the Aztec parakeets and red-lored parrots. Now the tempo picks up with the hysterical, humanlike cackles of the laughing falcons, while the lineated woodpeckers pound out the backbeat on a tall, swaying palm.

The crescendo continues to rise until day break, when the principal sopranos--the howler monkeys--join the cacophony with their incredibly loud, lionlike howls.

Tikal National Park is to this tropical Central American country what Banff National Park is to Canada or Yellowstone National Park is to the United States. Long protected, the wildlife within the park’s boundaries is both plentiful and oblivious to human intruders.

Though many visitors come here for the regal ruins, at least half--according to one park survey--come here to see and hear the animals.

I took a plane north from Guatemala City to the village of Flores on the enormous Lake Peten Itza, about 150 miles away, and from there a shuttle bus to the park. The road dead-ends at a kiosk of restaurants and bungalow-style hotels at the entrance to the park.

I stayed at the Jungle Lodge, where $35 gets you a clean, comfortable, whitewashed stucco room with red tiled floors, a large bathroom, two double beds, a ceiling fan and a veranda.

The only drawbacks were the electricity (it’s run by a generator and goes out at 10 p.m.; bring a flashlight and a candle) and the hot water (there’s none, but then again, who needs hot water when it’s 80 degrees and 80% humidity?).

Tikal National Park is about 40 miles south of Flores, measuring 221 square miles of protected jungle, surrounded by villages and farmlands.

The guard at the park entrance collects your fee (about $1 per person). It’s another $2 to enter the ruins, which is about a 10-minute drive to the center of the park.

Though there is still leftist guerrilla activity in some remote parts of Guatemala, usually near the Mexican border, the well-guarded Tikal area seems as safe as our own national parks.

(As a precaution, however, visitors to Guatemala should only travel during daylight hours, and never on secondary roads.)

When I arrived at Tikal, a pair of enormous scarlet macaws flew in to one of the kiosk trees and loudly trumpeted my welcome.

I carried my bags up a path, where seven or eight wild turkeys grazed in the grass. That evening I ate a pleasant meal of roasted chicken, rice, black beans and handmade tortillas to the sounds of marimba music while little gray foxes wandered outside looking for their own dinner.

Tikal attracts a truly international mix of tourists whose numbers have steadily increased. About 650,000 people visited the park last year.

One evening I sat on the top of Temple No. 4, the highest of the five precipices in Tikal, and watched the sunset with three Guatemalans, four Germans, an American, a Canadian, three French and two English.

Suddenly, the silhouettes of two bat falcons--bright orange and slate gray--approached through the twilight. Bat falcons are some of the fastest birds in the world, capable of flying 125 miles an hour. The pair began circling the temple top no more than 30 feet away, hunting large tropical dragon flies.

They’d stoop down below one, then swoop up with their legs and talons outstretched . . . whap! . . . a bat falcon plucked a dragonfly out of the sky, and . . . whap! . . . another did the same. With binoculars I’d watch them raise dinner to their beaks, eat the head and the bodies and spit out the legs.

If Tikal sounds like a place for sophisticated bird-watchers only, don’t worry; in Central America, everybody’s a bird-watcher. Whereas most American birds seem to blend in with the surroundings and stay out of trouble, Central American birds are practically fluorescent. They don’t try to blend, they try to dazzle.

All you need is “A Field Guide to Mexican Birds” by Roger Tory Peterson and Edward L. Chalif (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1973), a pair of binoculars and you’re ready.

According to U.S. biologist David Whitacre, who works at Tikal about six months of the year as part of the Mayan Project team studying the park’s large predatory birds, there are more species of birds in tiny Guatemala than in the United States and Canada combined.

Visitors can take a guided tour of the prime bird-watching and wildlife areas, as well as the ruins. Dawn and dusk are always the best hours, though there is plenty happening all day.

The ruins, sticking up out of the jungle, provide great seats to watch the action. From atop the temple called El Mundo Perdido (The Lost World), I spotted all kinds of birds, including a pair of toucans with huge multicolored bills that I chased into the rain forest.

It does rain in Tikal, but it’s tropical rain--warm, hard and fast. Usually you can wait under a tree for it to pass. I brought a Gore-Tex parka, but it was always too hot to wear.

The best clothing is loose and light, with long sleeves and long pants to keep the mosquitoes away. Visitors should buy mosquito repellent in the United States before traveling to Guatemala--ours works a lot better than theirs. And malaria pills are a good idea to bring along, too.

Due to an outbreak of cholera in Guatemala last summer, the U.S. Department of State advises Americans to drink bottled beverages instead of the potentially contaminated water.

If this all sounds like too much trouble, Tikal is worth it. I remember having to stop and wait while a troop of 50 or more coatimundis (raccoonlike animals) crossed our jungle path.

And I remember walking down lush green trails with ferns, bromeliads and orchids hanging from every bow, while the spider monkeys crawled through the branches overhead.

Tikal made me grin so much my cheeks hurt.

GUIDEBOOK

Tikal National Park

Getting there: Aviateca, the national airline of Guatemala, plus Pan Am, Mexicana, TACA and LACSA fly nonstop from LAX to Guatemala City for about $439 round trip through the end of October. American and Continental offer service with stops. From Guatemala City, it is best to avoid driving over the bad roads and possible encounters with leftist guerrillas and instead fly to Flores, which offers shuttle service to Tikal National Park for about $5. Aviateca has two nonstop flights daily from Guatemala City to Flores for $125 round trip.

Where to stay: The Jungle Lodge in Tikal is the best bet. Rooms are from $28 to $48 per night, double occupancy, with meals. The hotel also has offices in Guatemala City: 29a Calle 18-01, Zona 12, phone 011-502-2-760294. The Tikal Inn and the Jaguar Inn offer more inexpensive lodging. Write for reservations: Tikal National Park, Peten, Guatemala. Outside the park, on Lake Peten Itza, a good place to stay is the Hotel Maya International, Santa Elena, Peten, Guatemala, phone 011-502-9-316876. Rates: $60 a night, double occupancy. From there you can get guided tours into the park.

When to go: The dry season is from February through May. The rest of the time it’s cooler and wetter, with the rains usually heaviest from August through November.

For more information: Contact Alfa Tours in Guatemala City, Avenida la Reforma, No. 12-01, Zone 10, Edificio Reforma Montufar, Office 110, 011-502-2-318488. They speak English and can make your flight and hotel reservations. Or the Guatemala Consulate General, 2500 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 820, Los Angeles 90057, (213) 365-9251.