Guatemala Part 7: The gorgeous natural pools of Semuc Champey National Park (Fotos + Videos)

After our short rest at the hostel in Antigua we decided to go on towards the north of the country. We had heard of many backpackers that there is a cool place to stop by instead of directly heading to Flores in a 14 hours bus ride.

This place I am talking about was Semuc Champey and it was suppost to be just 5 hours away from Antigua (official Transfer Time).

Semuc Champey (literally = where the river hides under the stones), is a natural enclave located near the Guatemalan municipality of Lanquín (12 km south of Lanquín), in the department of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.

In the end of course it took a lot longer - 8 hours + 2 hours from Lanquin to our hostel right next to the national park.

So when we drove through the last part (already in the jungle) towards the hostel, the sun was already down and it was pretty dark. - We were sooo exhausted, but happy to arrive soon.

Our main goal was to visit the National Park of Semuc Champey the very next morning, so we got up early and walked about 2 km from our hostel to the entrance. Now that we had daylight we could see how much the vegetation had changed in comparison to the south of the country.

It was already a pretty known place, but not yet touristy and the only shops around were organized by locals and Indians.

We were lucky to get there early so we didn't have to wait long at the entrance of the natural pools.

Lying in the middle of a thick tropical forest Semuc Champey is a natural limestone bridge about 300 meters long through which the Cahabón River flows and in its surroundings there are a lot of pools of 1 to 3 m deep water, whose turquoise color or jade color changes throughout the year, varying with the weather, the sun and other natural factors.

Going up the trail we soon could soon see the first ones. The water there is incredibly crystal clear and turquoise, just like the Caribbean sea.

Further up we even saw people already jumping in the water and refreshing theirselves.

It was early, but the sun was already up and it started to get hot, so the water was just perfect to jump in. But we still had to wait. - We wanted to see everything first and take advantage of the early hour to take some pictures while it still wasn't that crowded.

At the end of the trail we arrived at the Cahabón river. Here it enters a limestone cavern, that emerged because of the strong river in a natural process. It is really dangerous to go there so we were only allowed to have a view from some distance.

Right after this point our 1hr hike to the "mirador" - the view point started, steep uphill through the jungle. First over wooden bridges, followed by a hiking trail with some stone stairs and then wooden bridges again.

The mosquitos were eating us alive and the humidity was pretty high, so we were sweating a lot - But compared to our volcano trip 2 days earlier it was like a little walk for us haha.

The walk was totally worth it!! When we got up there, we were surprised how high we had climbed and how great the view was.

We were almost the only people up there so early apart from the locals selling "agua pura mango y sandía" = drinking water, mangos and watermelon as snacks.

From this 700 m high viewpoint we were able to observe the 350 m long natural pools that make up "Semuc Champey", with waterfalls up to 40 feet high and all the pools fed by local streams.

Only since 1999 Semuc Champey was declared a Natural Monument by the then president of the Republic of Guatemala, Álvaro Arzú Irigoyen.

Due to the subtropical forest that surrounds the place, it has an enormous ecological wealth, among which more than 100 species of birds have been identified; 34 of mammals, 25 of reptiles and amphibians; and 10 fish plus more than 120 different species of trees.

It is a really incredible place to be and I am glad that it is being protected by the government!

After enjoying the view for a bit more, we decided to walk back down and take a bath in the precious pools too.

The trail was a bit more crowded now, but we got to see one of the beautiful creatures of this zone: butterflies :)

So when we were back to the pools again, we put our things in on of the lockers and jumped right in :) - This refreshing water was so nice and well deserved!!

TNow it was a bit more crowded though! - So we took a last view at the pools and went on to the caves.

Unfortunately they were already closed for visitors, so we just walked further to a big waterfall to spend our evening there close to the water.

We immediately jumped in and swam to the waterfall. The water was freezing but nice.

Later a group of backpackers came along to jump from one of the rocks. It was impressive!!

We stayed a while more and then decided to walk back to our hostel to get some rest because the next day we would already go on with our trip! - More about that soon so stay tuned ;)

Cheers,
Liz

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If you would like to see more about Cécile Morgado Photography, find her at her instagram page or at her facebook page

Here you can check out my previous posts about Guatemala:

Exploring the most visited place in Guatemala - The best of Antigua (Fotos + Videos)

Guatemala Part 2 - Mayan culture at the colorful market in Chichicastenango (Fotos + Videos)

Guatemala Part 3 - The beautiful lake Atitlán and surroundings (Fotos + Videos)

Guatemala Part 4: Paragliding at Lake Atitlán (Photos + Videos)

Guatemala Part 5: Defeating the Vulcan Acatenango - The 7 hrs hike to the camp (Photos + Videos)

Guatemala Part 6: Spending an unforgettable Night and Sunrise at the Volcano Acatenango (Fotos + Videos)

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