Reviews

Amazing trip - Discover Costa Rica

Just got back from Costa Rica and I can honestly say as a regular Exodus traveller that this is one of the best trips I have been on. Our guide Johnny was amazing and a real credit to his Country – and no surprise that he has won guide of the year twice. My one wish was to see baby turtles and boy did we see baby turtles – pouring out of the nest and making their way down to the sea. I never appreciated the different climates available in Costa Rica and spending two nights in each place gave us the chance to experience them all. The wildlife was amazing and everywhere. I can highly recommend this trip to anyone that loves seeing birds, animals, flora and fauna.

Stunning !!

Exodus’ first women only trip with the wonderful Katia as our guide. She was truly an inspiration and a great breadth of knowledge so effortlessly imparted.
I felt so privileged to be in Costa Rica. We saw much of its wildlife including armadillo and anteater and fabulous diversity of landscapes and eco climates.

What a beautiful country and what a great group of fellow travellers.

Costa Rica Discovery

First Exodus women’s tour and every part of it was fantastic!! We had a wonderful guide who could not have been more knowledgeable or helpful and funny. Torteguero was the highlight on the boat in the primal rainforest. However we covered 7 different ecosystems all different and exciting. Loved the bird life we did get to see a lot. I definitely recommend this trip it was so interesting. The watch outs were the zip lines are high and you need warm clothing for the Savegre as it is so high.

What an adventure!!!

Had a wonderful trip around Costa Rica, on the delightful ‘women only’ trip. We were led by a very knowledgeable and informative guide, in Katia, and whilst I avoided the zip wires, I thoroughly enjoyed the suspension bridges, the boat trip in the mangrove swamps and the geo-thermal baths. We saw birds of all kinds, including the quetzal, racoons, crocodile and caiman, an armadillo, sloths, turtles and monkeys! We started as a group of strangers on the same trip…and ended up feeling a family!!
The only downside was the return trip…so thorough is the security at Houston, that a two hour gap between flights is barely sufficient and i had to run to catch the second plane!!!

Beasties and Birdies of Coast Rica

PS See later

Costa Rica

Excellent trip, lots of wildlife to see, turtles,snakes, frogs,birds,cayman, crocodiles and much more all explained by our knowledgeable guide. Lovely beach for swimming in the Pacific and spas. Locals very friendly, a great place to visit.

Beasties and Birdies of Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a wonderful country, mainly for its variety and volume of wildlife.
Of course Costa Rica is well know for its bird life. While many will have seen humming birds, (as I have) it was a superb sight to be close to these magnificent birds as they weaved their way around us lumbering giants. I never grow weary of watching these creatures.
Howler, Spider and Capuchin monkeys using their prehensile tail moving from branch to branch provided an often amusing spectacle. Other animals featured were the Tent Maker Bats and White Lined Bats, Agouti, Coati, Caiman and Green Iguana.
Although not an ornithologist, brightly coloured birds such as Toucans, Curassaw, Acorn Woodpecker, Scarlet Macaw, Flame Coloured Tanagen and Emerald Toucanet, I find a delight to watch, particularly watching them feeding. It seemed as though even when driving along the roads animals almost posed for us to record them.
One would expect to be roughing it, but it was the last thing I would use describe our accommodation, while the food was always good and often outstanding.
The places visited represent the full variety of environments, from high altitude cloud forest (at Savegre) , to transitional forest (Manuel Antonio Reserve), to tropical wet forest (Tortuguero) to rainforest (Esquinas).
I cannot leave my summary without mentioning the inspirational Michael Schnitzler who as a conservationist has obtained over $4 Million from his Austrian sources to purchase land and develop Esquinas Lodge. Amazingly he has done this in between travelling to between Costa Rica and Austria, where he is an internationally admired violinist and concertmaster the Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra. A truly remarkable person developing a remarkable environmental project.
Friends who have seen the videos from the trip have been enthralled. Others to whom I have described it have suggested that it be added to their “bucket list”.

COSTA RICA

The group size of 14 was ideal with plenty of different personalities. The locations selected were a good combination of places which illustrated the diversity of wildlife habitats. The real bonus to the holiday was the guide (Katia) and driver (Chico). Katia was the real deal. Her English was good, she was very knowledgeable about wildlife, and she went out of her way to help and try to meet everyone’s needs. Katia was a very professional guide indeed. We were also fortunate to have Chico who was always happy and helpful. He would often stop to let us see something he had spotted. The guide and driver always considered our safety not only when stopping to take in the view, but also in pointing out any potential dangers such as pickpockets, rip currents when bathing, etc.

COSTA RICA

The group size of 14 was ideal with plenty of different personalities. The locations selected were a good combination of places which illustrated the diversity of wildlife habitats. The real bonus to the holiday was the guide (Katia) and driver (Chico). Katia was the real deal. Her English was good, she was very knowledgeable about wildlife, and she went out of her way to help and try to meet everyone’s needs. Katia was a very professional guide indeed. We were also fortunate to have Chico who was always happy and helpful. He would often stop to let us see something he had spotted. The guide and driver always considered our safety not only when stopping to take in the view, but also in pointing out any potential dangers such as pickpockets, rip currents when bathing, etc.

An amazing tour with loads of bird and wildlife spotting.

We were very lucky to have Johnny Villalobos as our tour leader. He is a walking encyclopedia on the flora and fauna, caring, flexible and a great organiser. We saw spider, capuchin, howler and squirrel monkeys, three and two toed sloths , lizards, iguanas, a green turtle laying her eggs (very moving) and much more. I can’t remember how many species of birds we saw (loads), all of them very colourful and often very close up. This is one of the best trips I have ever done.