Sights and history to Tikal your fancy

Here, in a Guatemalan treescape of stranglers figs, hanging vines, and palm fronds, it's these animals that are the residents nowadays. But once, millennia ago, it was humans who lived on this land, in one of history's greatest cities, the ruins of which now fight with the soaring ceiba trees for sunlight.

This is Tikal, located in what is the northeast of modern Guatemala but was once the heart of the Maya Empire. The city was founded in the 4th century BC and grew in both size and power for the next 1500 years. At its apogee, more than 100,000 people lived here and it was one of the most influential urban centres of Central America, dominating the culture and politics of the whole region.

It was as close to a metropolis as the Maya could have built. As I emerge from the jungle into the central part of Tikal, I have to crane my neck to look up at their equivalent of skyscrapers, the enormous stone towers built as temples, some more than 60 metres high. The first one I see, officially called Temple I but generally known as the Temple of the Great Jaguar, has nine stepped tiers of limestone, each representing a level of the underworld, in which an 8th century ruler was entombed. Across the plaza, in the Temple of the Masks, his wife has her tomb in a structure almost as tall.

Is this what any of today's major world cities would look like if they were abandoned and left to the jungle, I wonder? And could you, centuries later, get a true impression of their power and wealth?

One of the things about the dense labyrinth of trees here in Tikal is that, when you're walking along the dirt trails on the ground, you often don't know there's a building ahead of you until you stumble across it. That's even true for Temple IV, the highest of them all and, at 65 metres, one of the three tallest structures in all the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. But when I do discover it for myself, after pushing through large ferns folded over each other, it's a hulking tower of stone that beckons for me to climb it.

Clambering up the steep staircases to the temple's main viewpoint, you can look out across the canopy and see the peaks of other temples peeking out from the trees, like the tops of high-rises in a foggy Manhattan. In a city founded more than 2500 years ago, it's uplifting some of these buildings have been sturdy enough to resist the encroaching nature.

Trivia fans often delight when they find out this viewpoint was used as a filming location in the first Star Wars movie in 1977 - as the spot where a rebel oversees the Millennium Falcon landing in Yavin 4 as they prepare to attack the Death Star (if that means anything to you). But, resting here for a little while and looking out at the view, I'm more impressed knowing this was where the rulers of one of the world's greatest civilisations also once stood. Sometimes in the rush of all the exploring, you need to take a few moments to remember the significance of what was here before George Lucas uncovered it.

If you have time, it's worth venturing away from the centre of the historic city and deeper into its natural surroundings (with a tour, not alone on foot!). Surrounding the monuments is Tikal National Park, an enormous natural reserve that has been recognised as a World Heritage Site for its biodiversity. Between the wetlands, savannah, tropical broadleaf, and palm forests, there are more than 200 species of trees. And aside from the monkeys and the coatimundis, who have become rather ubiquitous by the end of my visit, there are five types of cats, including jaguars and pumas. The park could actually be a whole day's visit on its own.

When it comes to the culture, though, Guatemala's Tikal may not be the first site that comes to mind when you think of the Maya Empire. It certainly doesn't get as much attention as Maya cities in Mexico like Chichen Itza, Uxmal, or Tulum. But don't let that fool you. You'll hear much more about the Mexican ones simply because the country gets more visitors and they are easier for tourists to access. Yes, they are impressive, but they are dwarfed by Tikal in almost every respect - and, in reality, it's just as easy to visit once you're in this part of the country.

The last structure I end up climbing is a 32-metre-high ceremonial complex called Mundo Perdido, which translates as Lost World. The name is not lost on me because it captures one of the feelings I've had the whole day.

In a sense, Tikal feels like a world that's been a bit forgotten - at least by Australian travellers who often don't prioritise this region (I'll confess to knowing nothing about Tikal before I came). But it has also made me realise how little I'd previously known in general about the Ancient Maya, especially compared to the Romans or the Egyptians, for instance. Here in Tikal, though, this jungle metropolis with its grand temples is a worthy reminder that they were indeed one of the world's greatest civilisations.