Tortuguero

This one week tour is 50% wildlife spotting and 50% long travel days. Wildlife is colourful, diverse and fairly easy to spot, but the experiences were hindered by unseasonably cool and wet conditions – unexpected, but nonetheless possible in February. Walks were often spent sheltering under the hood of my waterproof jacket and an appreciation of the Costa Rican landscapes was limited. Road journeys between hotels were longer than expected, often due to heavy traffic. The optional excursions were OK, but not great value for money. Unfortunately, Costa Rica’s high end tourist industry has become expensive and quite commercialised.

Ross Bishop Natural Highlights of Costa Rica

From steamy Tortoguero, with the howler monkeys waking us up at 5.00am (no need for an alarm!) to cool, mountainous Savegre thronging with hummingbirds, this was a tour of contrasting habitats each with their own variety of wildlife, plants and flowers. In addition to the wildlife elements of the tour, visits to the Aquiares coffee factory and CAITE research centre were incredibly interesting. The optional visit to the Bri Bri community was well worth it; we learned all about how chocolate is made from scratch and had great fun trying each part of the process.

While there were some longer travel days, they were well paced, never felt too onerous and we often saw interesting things en route. The boat trips were fantastic- just getting to Tortoguero and to Drake Bay were experiences in themselves, with opportunity to see lot of wildlife on the way. The snorkelling trip was amazing- we were able to swim above sea turtles, rays and amongst lots of colourful fish. Even if you don’t snorkel, the boat trip was worth doing- we saw a pod of humpback whales quite close to the boat, and a variety of birds.

The accommodation was comfortable and in all the hotel grounds we were able to spot a variety of wildlife- great for photographers who enjoy having a camera/phone in one hand and a ‘sundowner’ in the other!

Linda Grierson Costa Rica's Coastal Secrets

This itinerary was fantastic! Loved the fun activities, knowledgeable and passionate guide, great hotels & vehicles. Saw loads of wildlife in such a small amount of time.

Mikaela Mills Costa Rica Active Escape