Chiminos Island Lodge, Petén and the North

Location

Petexbatún Lagoon (Petén and the North, Guatemala)

Description

There are carefully maintained trails, where you will have the opportunity to see toucans, parrots, eagles and vultures, among many other rarely seen species. A good good base for visits to ruins at Aguateca and Dos Pilas.

Client comments and reviews

Chiminos ? what can you say ? bonkers!!!! Not for the fainthearted. We loved it, the journey in itself was worth it, the scenery, the sense that you were really getting into the heart of things. The journey is long though but we enjoyed it. Especially the boat journey with all your kit dumped into a pretty tiny boat for a couple of hours into the jungle. The lodge itself is very basic, there may have been changes since we were there but it was very tired, lots of things not painted or falling apart. We don?t mind basic as you know, but this was a sense of lack of management and attention, it was pretty run down and shabby. The manager was very odd and a bit scary and very drunk most of the time. Our guide for the 3 days or so was just fantastic and you could see he was uncomfortable and embarrassed by the manager here. The ruins visited from here were amazing with a real sense of isolation ? we were the only people at one and only joined by about 4 people at the other. The birdlife was spectacular, the sunset (we were taken for a little boat ride to enjoy it) beautiful, the monkeys hideously noisy and the black widows terrifingly large! Chiminos was an absolute highlight for us, not for the lodge, but for the guide, the setting, the sites, the wildlife (lots of huge crocs) & birdlife but it is not for the less intrepid perhaps! - RP (July 2011)

Standards appeared to have slipped; path lights missing, roof leaking, trails poorly maintained. - JW (January 2007)