If you are travelling to Puerto Viejo or Manzanillo, be sure to book a jungle tour of the Manzanillo-Gandoco Nature Reserve with Tino (Florentino). This was the highlight of our trip to Costa Rica! Tino was born and raised in Manzanillo and his passion, knowledge and experience in the local jungle is vast. He patiently showed us every animal, reptile, amphibian and bird that we could have possibly expected to see in that area, including some rare species. We saw caimans, turtles, lots of frogs, eyelash vipers, fer de lance snakes, bullet ants, blue morpho butterflies and more. We finished the walk with a "help yourself" fruit farm. A memorable experience and one not to be missed if you are in the area. NB: Tino even lends boots for the five hour walk.
Liked the variety of wildlife and trees, disliked the bugs.
We did a guided hike in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge with Florentino in January 2012. One of the highlights was spotting and photographing two different colored eyelash vipers. We highly recommend this experience, and we were especially impressed with our guide. He is local but worldly, has intimate knowledge of this jungle, and is very engaging with his wit and humor. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and unforgettable day.
Our excellent guide with Jamaican roots, Ricky, showed us snakes, wasp nests, poisonous frogs that we would have missed on our own. We also learned alot about what you could use some flowers/fruits for. It was a great 4 hour walk in the national park.
There is so much to see on this walk. You do need a guide as it's private land and there are dangers. We spent around five hours $40 in the jungle starting at Tino's home orchard. I learnt about the plants and tree uses. Saw spiders, lizards, snakes, sloths and birds. Tino is extremely knowledgeable and tells great stories. Cant recommended him highly enough.
We went on a terrific hike here. Definitely take a guide with you. There are amazing little secrets in the jungle.. animals and places that will escape the unfamiliar observer. It was about 8 hours but not an especially challenging hike physically except for the duration. GO!!!!
Ob der „Nature Park Walk“ wirklich so heißt wie im tripadvisor geführt, ist mir nicht bekannt – Hinweisschilder, um ihn unter diesen Namen zu finden, gibt es in Manzanillo nicht, und zwei Einheimische zuckten auf meine Frage lediglich die Schulter. Jedoch dürfte es sich bei dem sehr schönen Weg, den ich hier beschreibe, um den richtigen handeln. Er führt vom Ost-Ende des Ortes in unmittelbarer Meeresnähe auf bequemen Pfad durch einen naturnahen Urwald (restlos unberührt ist er nicht mehr) zu einem Kap in etwa einem Kilometer Entfernung, von wo aus man einen exzellenten Blick auf mehrere Korallenfelsen im Meer hat. Einer von ihnen ist recht bizarr geformt und folglich besonderes fotogen. Mehrere kleine Sandstrände sind rasch vom küstennahen Weg aus querfeldein zu erreichen, Seitenwege führen tiefer in den üppigeren Naturwald hinein (Achtung! Rückweg im Auge behalten und nicht verlaufen, wenn man alleine ist!) . Wenn man die Augen offen hält findet man auch ohne Führer interessantes Getier: diverse Affenarten (Congo, Brüllaffen), Faultiere hoch oben in den Baumkronen, Einsiedlerkrebse, kleine bunte Frösche, die etwas giftig sind (aber nur, wenn man sie isst...) sowie ziemlich giftige Lanzenottern (Bothrops) und bushmaster (Lachesis) (aber eigentlich nur, wenn man sie gezielt sucht).
We visited the Nature Park in January of 2007. There is also a zipline at this location. We were very impressed with the level of safety that was emphasized regarding equipment and competency of the people running this place. I was quite nervous about trying the zip line but the staff were very thorough about explaining how to use the equipment and how to competently use the zip line. Wonderful view of the Sierra Madre mountains and of the ocean from the zipline. Top notch staff and the food (salad and pizza- with a mexican twist) was very tasty. Would recommend it to anyone who likes a little adventure in their holiday.
So much to see both plants and animals. Florentino's knowledge of the area and the plant and wildlife was amazing.
We took the bus down from Playa Chicita, cheap and easy. Go with a guide, you will see more! But walking everywhere is still the best way to be anywhere.