Breathtaking Wildlife: Carara Hike & Tarcoles River Safari

My tour was led by Rigo. He was engaging and clearly cared about his work. He was also quite organized and picked me up from my hotel exactly on time. After driving through some crazy San Jose traffic (I'm glad I wasn't driving), we arrived at Carara Park where Rigo did a great job of finding and pointing things out that I never would have noticed on my own. He made a special effort to locate certain animals that I and the other person on the tour particularly wanted to see. Rigo was very knowledgeable and I learned a lot. After Carara, we drove a short distance to the River where we saw crocodiles and many interesting birds. I only had time for a single excursion during a brief stay in San Jose and was glad to have chosen this experience.

Rigo sent me a text as soon as he arrived at the hotel. As we set off Rigo explained the journey & outlined the trip. We made a brief comfort stop & I bought a cold drink. We set off on our walk & Rigo talked about the forest, the Eco -system & the wildlife. We saw lots of spiders insects frogs bats birds & fungi . I enjoyed the walk & chatting with Rigo about the different types of forest. It was good that Rigo had both Telescope & Binoculars ( unlike other guides who had neither) as we were able to have really good views through the Telescope We arrived at the location for the river trip which was clean & well serviced with facilities drinks toilets souvenirs The boats are spacious & comfortable. The Captain & Guide were knowledgeable & provided us with a booklet showing bird images & a verbal narration in Spanish & English. The Guide explained the work that they do talked about the Eco -system the birds & the Crocodiles. With care the Captain maneuvered the boat giving us excellent views & plenty of opportunities for photos & videos. The tour was interesting & entertaining I recommended it to fellow travelers because its run by local people who genuinely care about the environment the wildlife & work hard to preserve it. Dedicated staff who go the extra mile Thank you Jocelyn

My friend and I were the only ones on this tour with Rigo and had an excellent experience. He picked us up on time in a very comfortable vehicle. He shared interesting information about the animals we saw in Carara National Park, and the Crocodile Safari gave us the chance to see many bird species and get close to the main attraction, the crocodiles. The food was great at where we stopped for lunch, and Rigo even took us for smoothies and drinks to a restaurant with an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean and Nicoya Peninsula. It was a wonderful day, and I highly recommend this tour.

This tour was incredible! Carara National Park was beautiful — we saw scarlet macaws, monkeys, and so much amazing wildlife. The Tárcoles River boat ride was a real highlight, especially getting to see the huge crocodiles up close in their natural habitat. Our guide was super knowledgeable and friendly, and everything was really well-organized from start to finish. Definitely one of the best experiences I’ve had in Costa Rica. Highly recommend!

It was a very relaxing tour with a knowledgeable and friendly guide. It was an easy tour to do. The tour also used ethical operators.

We had an excellent tour with David. He's very knowledgeable and personable. Everything was on time and communication was good. We are birders and David was able to add one little extension on to a higher elevation to find a different species of hummingbird and also got a great view of Scarlet Macaws in the valley below.

This was one of best tours I took in my two weeks in Costa Rica. If you love animals and nature this is for you. Romano, the guide, was a pro, and clearly loves his work. Well worth it!

It was a 5/5 experience, The pick up was in time in a nice car. We had a comfortable ride to the park with a quick coffee stop. In the park we walked the path and my guide David was super knowledgeable about everything regarding nature, animals (especially birds) and Costa Rica in general. He was so enthusiastic and passionate about it it was great. Binoculars were lent to us to better see the birds better, we see over 30! Also some really rare ones, besides that frogs, fancy insects, plants, spiders and even a big Deer. Then we went to the river for the boat tour and saw really big crocodiles, but also birds, and turtles. The boat rice was an hour and 45 minutes as well, so they really took their time. In the way back we visited a restaurant up on a mountain with a great view over the forest and the Pacific Ocean. During the ride David and I had really good and funny conversations. Just a great trip, which I recommend a lot!!

I enjoyed my tour with Eduardo! We saw a lot of good wildlife on this trip, including monkeys, bats, spiders, and birds. The river boat tour was also great and it allowed me to explore an ecosystem that I hadn't yet visited in Costa Rica.

David was my tour guide for this tour; since I was the only one registered for the tour, it was even private. Communication with David and the organizer was super easy and worked via WhatsApp. Since the crocodile tour depends on the tides, we did that first. On the way, I had the opportunity to pick up breakfast in a small shop. The crocodile tour was super interesting, and I learned a lot about these creatures. Afterwards, David also showed me the plants on the grounds. After the crocodile tour, we went to the national park; the animals there are amazing. I was lucky enough to see several different species of birds (David really has a passion for birds), and in addition to the birds, I also saw a coati, bat, frog, and white bat. I would definitely recommend the tour; I felt incredibly safe and looked after.