Sloths in the jungle & safari by the River

Posted By : Michelle_M
I (56 year old female) brought my mom (77) and my son (21) to Costa Rica and am so glad we decided to do this tour. Marlene, our driver all day was amazing. She is so sweet, friendly and knowledgeable. She made sure we had a fantastic day. She picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the river for the safari by raft. The river guide Durman was knowledgeable and pointed out lots of flora and fauna. He provided snacks, water and juice. We saw crocodiles, iguanas, monkeys, bats, and a bunch of birds. There were some rapids which made it fun. After the safari on the river, we had a traditional Costa Rican lunch which was great. After lunch, we headed to the rainforest for a short hike to see all of the animals we were hoping to see and some others we had not expected. Walter was our guide and he was truly fantastic. He helped to make sure my mom was comfortable and that we all had a great time. We saw yellow throated toucans, red-eyed tree frog, eyelash viper, sloths including a young one who was very close to us, strawberry poison frog (only poisonous if you eat them), and a large tapir. All of us loved the day, including my mom (77) and son (21). I think this tour is great for people of all ages. I highly recommend this trip!
Rating :
Posted On : 2024-05-12

Posted By : Michele H
We were first picked up by Marlene, who is a wealth of information on Costa Rica. She is very accommodating and such a sweet, thoughtful person. We were then taken to the river and our rafting experience with Durman was starting. Durman is also a fantastic guide with the best eyesight in the world. I swear, that man can spot all kinds of animals! All kinds of birds, bats, monkeys,iguanas and crocodiles were seen throughout our rafting adventure. Marlene then took us to have a fantastic lunch and then off to the rainforest to see the animals. We were met by our guide, Walter. He was so exited to show us all the animals that were around. We were able to see sloths, a tapir, frogs and snakes. Walter was the nicest, most professional guide in all of our rainforest trips. He was excited to share all he knew about the animals. Fantastic fay, thank you!
Rating :
Posted On : 2024-04-18

Posted By : Allison_K
Amazing experience. Marlena our driver was with us for the entire day. She was very informative about Costa Rica and made sure we had the best out of out rafting and sloth safari. Duran our raft guide pointed out the wildlife and plants. The lunch was tasty along with the watermelon Marlena purchased from a roadside vendor. The sloth safari was the highlight. We saw at six slothes 2 had babies, along with frogs, tapir and birds. Guides were educated on the wildlife. Highly recommend
Rating :
Posted On : 2024-03-28

Posted By : robertsE884IT
This is an amazing experience. Although it is not billed as a private tour everything about is first class. We were picked up on time by the friendliest and most knowledgeable tour guide Marlene (Marlin as she told us how to pronounce it). The first segment was a very safe and informative rubber boat ride down a very easy flowing river. The tour guide, Ryan, kept pointing out monkeys, iguanas, herons, egrets, cormorants that we would never see on our own. He also positioned the boat so that we could get great photos to show everyone back home. The highlight was a huge crocodile sitting on top of a rock, We got close enough for more great pictures. This was followed by an excellent authentic Costa Rican lunch . We then were driven by Marlene to a tropical rain forest for our tour with Allan. This tour was very detailed and organized as the guide prepared earlier in the day to locate the positions of the animals that we would want to see. Again without a tour guide you would never be able to spot the animals. We saw a red eye frog, a blue jean frog, a yellow viper snake, a very poisonous red frog, leaf cutter ants, multiple sloths and several birds. Allan took my cell phone and took great pictures that would have been impossible for me to take. He was very well informed and answered all of my many questions. We then proceeded to drive back to the pick up point with Marlene and she was a very gracious hostess. We feel like we made a lifelong friend as she was very engaging and passionate about her culture. I can not recommend this tour highly enough and can only recommend that you bring bug repellant and sun screen and an open mind to a great experience.
Rating :
Posted On : 2024-02-18

Posted By : Andrew_O
One of our favorite days of the trip! Marlene was an excellent guide who picked us up and offered a lot of knowledge about the local wildlife on our ride out to Tenorio River. The rafting was incredible as we saw so much wildlife — howler monkeys, baby & adult crocs, bats, iguanas, egrets, and more. After rafting, we stopped for a quick lunch which was good and traditional Costa Rican food. We then headed out to the rain forest to a wildlife sanctuary to see frogs, snakes, and sloths. We even saw a sloth come down and came within inches of it!! We couldn’t recommend this tour enough!
Rating :
Posted On : 2024-01-28

Posted By : Kathy F
One of the best tours ever. Highly recommend. Pick up/return to hotel. Excellent guides. Peaceful cruise down the river. Delicious lunch. Quiet walk through the rain forest. Saw so much wildlife with the help of our guides.
Rating :
Posted On : 2024-01-22

Posted By : Wendy_T
We had the best day! Excellent, excellent tour! If you get the chance to do this, I highly recommend!
Rating :
Posted On : 2023-12-13

Posted By : Wendy_H
This tour was a highlight of our 12 day trip to Costa Rica. If you want to see animals in their natural environment, then this tour is a must. We relaxed while David, our rafting guide, steered us toward magnificent photo ops of lizards, crocodiles, bats, egrets, herons and made sure we saw the Jesus Christ lizard (basilisk lizard) walk on water! After lunch at a local Costa Rican restaurant, our driver, Marlene, drove us 30 minutes to the rain forest. After a short downpour--it is the rainforest after all, Maria lead us through nature trails pointing out various birds, frogs, a yellow pit viper!, as well as numerous plants and animals. The absolute highlight was seeing a sloth in a tree at eye level. You can't help but fall in love with these creatures when they look you right in the eye with a goofy grin. Totally worth the price of admission! Finally, Marlene gets special recognition for being one of the best drivers on our entire trip. She made us feel safe, welcome and treated us like we were part of her family. All of our guides were friendly and enthusiastic but Marlene had a special "something" that made you understand that Costa Rica is a unique place that needs to be preserved. She loves what she does and her enthusiasm is contagious. We ended our visit on this highlight but will definitely be returning in the future and will make sure to include a tour with Marlene on subsequent trips!
Rating :
Posted On : 2023-12-13

Posted By : cynthia_m
Rafting down the Rio Tenario and seeing wildlife everywhere. After lunch ended the day in the rainforest and bonded with a 3 toed sloth! Saw snakes, colorful frogs and toucans. Felipe. Marlene and Walter were AMAZING!
Rating :
Posted On : 2023-12-04

Posted By : Diana_V
My family thoroughly enjoyed the sloth and rainforest tour. Our guide, Walter, was amazing at finding the animals and even took some pictures for us to be sure they were fantastic. We were so blessed to get face to face with a sloth on a very long tree branch in the forest. Walter had an excellent eye and found multiple vipers and tree frogs too. The river tour portion was a bit hot and we didn’t see too many animals, but the guide said the water was a bit high an murky from a bunch of rain they had the days previous to our tour. The lunch was also delicious. Our driver, Marlene, was also kind and wonderful! Be sure to check where your hotel is though, we were far out and it added 3 hours to our tour.
Rating :
Posted On : 2023-11-21