The biosphere reserve of Sian Ka'an is a widely known non-government and non-profit organization. It is maintained by groups of wildlife activists and conservationists in the Tulum municipality.

The Sian Ka'an reserve itself is located in the Quintana Roo, a Mexican state, but its reputation travels far across the world. As a matter of fact, tourists from all over the world visit the Yucatan Peninsula just to see the Sian Ka'an biosphere reserve.

Adventure travel has been a big part of our world's culture ever since the earliest explorations. People always sought to find new things and new land, see new sights, and discover the undiscovered.

The National Tour Association defines adventure tourism as a tour that is designed around an adventure sports. Sports like mountain climbing, hiking, rafting, and similar extreme activities fall into adventure tourism.

The History of Adventure Tourism

The modern form of adventure traveling started several decades ago, back when the first people planned on climbing the Himalayas. Then, in 1970, the very first rafting trips were opened commercially in Ethiopia, attracting tourists from around the world.

If climates and the political power games change over time, so does adventure tourism and the travel industry. Back in 1980, floating along the Nile in Egypt and hiking the Mount Ararat were all the rage. The 90s saw to the big change when the interest turned to the Swiss Alps and Thailand. The twenty-first century saw to a bigger change when adventure tourism went over to Central America, the Dominican Republic, and the Costa Rica. Kayaking and trekking were especially popular in the two latter destinations.

The Mayan calendar has long been referred to as the most accurate calendar ever created by mankind. It moves in circles like a toy, almost. It spins around, with smaller consecutive rings lining the larger out ring. Using merely the sun, the moon and the stars, the Mayans were able to track the passage of time better than any of our modern supercomputers. This is what has got the doomsday fanatics all riled up.

There are several misconceptions when thinking about the Mayans, their calendar, and the 2012 dooms day predictions that have been made about dooms days and catastrophe. The first is that the Mayans invented the calendar they used. It is true that the Mayans refined the cyclic calendar to what we see from their ruins today, but they did not invent the calendar.

Two very distinctive traits, the highlands and the lowlands define Guatemala. Each area has it’s own unique look and it’s own unique inhabitants. The thick jungles of the highlands to the filled with natural wonders and spectacles lowlands, there are monuments here that can’t be seen anywhere else on the planet. For now, let’s concentrate on the amazing wildlife and geography of the Guatemala highlands.

One of the defining characteristics for the survival of all wildlife in the Guatemala Highlands is the mountain chain known called the Sierra Madre. It stretches from the Mexican border down to the mid highlands reaching El Salvador. The most intriguing part of this mountain chain is that it’s defined by volcanic cones, including a volcano that is over 13,000 feet tall called Tajumulco.  

Located approximately 50 miles from the country’s border with Belize, Tikal National Park consists of the abandoned city of Tikal, its intricate buildings stretching over 6 square miles, and the lush jungle surrounding it, filled with native flora and fauna that continue to flourish there. Many animals and birds also call this park home, including the rowdy Howler Monkey, gorgeous parrots, the illusive Gray Fox, and playful Spider Monkeys. Just outside the National Park’s entrance, there is a privately owned park, which offers a zip-line tour through the jungle’s canopy, and a museum that offers many exhibits, featuring captivating items recovered from the many excavations of the ruins.

Exploring the Tikal Ruins

Whether you wish to explore the ruins, which, to this day, are only a fraction of the true size of the city, or whether you want to see the 140 species of birds and countless other wildlife, Tikal is the ideal place for any traveler. It is perfect for an educational trip for the family, an endless treasure chest for birdwatchers and animal enthusiasts, and an adventure for anyone that just wants to get away from it all.

Tikal, the “City of Voices”, lies within the mystifying jungle canopy in the Petén Region of Guatemala. This ancient city is overflowing with an enchantment that draws not only hundreds of tourists each year, but also many archeologists and naturalists from around the world. Declared by UNESCO as a Natural and World Cultural Heritage Site, the ruins of Tikal combine the natural beauty of the jungle with the historic magnificence of the city’s architecture.

Between 300 CE and 900 CE, there flourished an extremely advanced civilization inhabiting the lands of Yucatan Peninsula, along Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. A few centuries later, archaeologists have discovered exquisitely built pyramids and surprisingly detailed monuments in these areas, which are known to have existed between 1300 BCE and 1200 CE. Fortunately, these ruins have been opened for tourists and young explorers alike. And true enough, most people visiting the areas of Mexico and Central America have never run out of praises of what is now called as the Mayan ruins.

For long years, the Mayan ruins had been hidden beneath lush rainforests surrounded by pristine waterfalls along with breathtakingly wild floras and faunas, waiting to be unearthed. And unearthing, the tourists did. Thus, Tulum and Chichen Itza featuring the best preserved ruins of the Mayans remain to be two of the most heavily visited archaeological sites in the world.

Try and imagine the feeling of the wind blowing past your face as you race against it, or the fresh breeze in the sweeping landscapes rolling past you, astride a beautiful bay mare.
These are the reasons why horseback riding is so popular to millions of equine lovers around the world. These are also the reasons why millions more burgeon for the best horses in the market.

Horseback Riding

If you have a thing for horses, then horseback riding might be the perfect recreational activity for you. There's a number of ways on how you can enjoy horseback riding. First of which is to organize trips to horse ranches. There's a variety of equestrian activities that you can do, other than riding. You can learn grooming, saddling, training, and cutting trails for horses. You can try exploring. You will never run out of things to do in the country.
If you don't know where to start, why not look up horseback riding destinations on the Internet. There are many websites out there that talk endlessly about horseback riding. Read up articles, like you're doing now, about equestrianism.

If you are looking for a good adventure, then Yucatan is definitely the place to be. The Yucatan Peninsula is filled with many wondrous places and sights to see, which include vast tropical jungles rich with diverse wildlife, tropical and migratory bird species, and ancient stone ruins of the Mayan civilization.

The wildlife in Yucatan is highly varied because of the abundant ecosystem in the entire peninsula. In places the natural habitats of the animals and birds are well preserved in form of sanctuaries, biospheres, reserves, and national parks. In Yucatan you will see all kinds of interesting creatures from beautiful birds to fearsome-looking crocodiles.

The rugged mountains and deep jungles, not to mention the teeming wildlife in the virgin rainforests, are all the reasons why you should go on hiking and adventure trips in Guatemala. The vast jungle of Guatemala presents great hiking opportunity for the avid backpackers.

If you're one of them, you shouldn't dare miss this opportunity to go trekking up on the mountains. Just add a little human intervention provided by the local Mayan people, and this trip can be the most amazing adventure you'll have in your life.
The Western Highlands

The Mayan Riviera, otherwise known as the Riviera Maya, is a coastal district located in the eastern part of the Yucatan Peninsula. This coastal tourist destination runs along Highway 307, parallel to the Caribbean coastal beaches in Quintana Roo. It begins at Playa del Carmen and ends at Tulum.