El Zotz

El Zotz takes its name from the Mayan word for bat, and the reason is a cave in a cliff near the site from which hundreds of thousands of bats stream out at dusk in a column that takes many minutes to pass, which is the thing most visitors remember. The site itself is a Classic Maya city with a group called El Diablo on a ridge above the main plaza, where excavation found an intact royal tomb with textiles, wooden objects and the remains of children buried with the king. From the top of El Diablo the temples of Tikal are visible above the forest canopy on a clear morning, around twenty kilometres east.

History

The city's original Mayan name was Pa'Chan, and it shared its emblem glyph with Yaxchilan in Chiapas, whose royal dynasty probably came from here. Preclassic pottery is common, but the city grew greatly in the 6th century AD; its dynasty seems to have moved its capital here from nearby Bejucal, where a stela names the Teotihuacan-linked general Siyaj K'ak' as overlord of the king of El Zotz, and a bowl found as far away as Costa Rica records a gift from a king of El Zotz to the king of El Perú. The city prospered again in the Late Classic and was particularly densely inhabited in the Terminal Classic (Wikipedia, El Zotz).

What you'll find

• The bat exodus at dusk - hundreds of thousands leaving the cave.
• The El Diablo group - the ridge complex with its royal tomb.
• Tikal seen across the canopy - temples on the horizon from the ridge.
• Unrestored jungle architecture - the site largely as found.

When to go

The dry months of January to April. Two to three days including the trek in and out. Camping is the only accommodation and everything is carried in.

Good to know

Access is by trek or very rough track and requires guides and camping gear. There are no facilities. Insects, heat and humidity are severe. The site is largely unexcavated, so structures are mounds under forest.

Nearby

Tikal is east; Flores lies south.

Key facts