Rio Lagartos Flamingo Biosphere (Private Tour)

This tour visits the natural reserve of Rio Lagartos and the archaeological site of Ek Balam, making for an excellent combination of archaeology and nature in a single day.

Río Lagartos is within the Biosphere Special Reserve on the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico. It is famous for its enormous flamingo colony and large variety of flora and fauna. The largest American flamingo population in Mexico, around 44,000 of them can be found here.

Enjoy the boat ride through the wetlands, the guide will point out and identify the fauna that can be found on our way to spot the flamingos. Once we get to where they gather you will see how they are such incredible and beautiful birds, watching them run on top of the water as they take off. After watching the flamingos we’ll take the boat to the salt pond, with it’s high density of salt you’ll float so much easier than in regular seawater making for a novel experience.

After the dip in the salt pond we’ll head to the Mayan Mud Bad. In Rio Lagartos we find a particular white mud with a high concentration of minerals that is really good for your skin, so it’s recommended you dip yourself in the mud and cover your whole body and face in it… or you can also do it just for the fun of it! Then we’ll ride the boat to a water spring or a close beach to wash the mud off!

After that we’ll have a delicious lunch at a local restaurant and on our way to Ek-Balam we will go through some old fashioned Mayan Villages where you’ll see how the locals live.

Ek Balam is one of the new jewels of Mayan archaeology, with recently discovered well-preserved stucco sculptures over 1200 years old which you witness up close by climbing the Acropolis, a nearly 100 ft. tall temple. It was considered a sacred city ruled by a living god and you can see and touch many of the temples and ruins in this wonderful ancient testament of the Mayans.

A tour through the site will tell you all the history of the place and it’s buildings. An incredible experience for all ages, come experience the jungles, waters and ancient Mayan sites with us!