Canopy Tours in Costa Rica?

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KentuckySawyer

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The wife and I are thinking of going to Coast Rica sometime in January, and are interested in going on a "canopy tour." I guess this is basically climbing into the canopy with ropes and ascenders and then whizzing around on cables and ziplines.

Anybody have any first hand knowledge and maybe a recommendation on an outfitter?
 
In Costa Rica, there is an area where they have rope bridges that run through the canopys, you can actually walk through the canopy. I have a phone call into Mike D, to find out where exactly in the country it is. Someone here may know.

Mike D's phone apparently is not working.
 
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I have done these. There's a good number of them, but the best ones are in Monteverde, way up high in the cloud forests.

They make these things so that your grandma can enjoy it. They start you out by letting you choose your harness. They're all laid out on the floor and you find on that's your size. They dumped about 50 rock climbing harnesses out onto the floor and I spied orange and lo and behold, a Buckingham Versatile! I was right at home in that.

It's zipline stuff on steel cable using steel pulleys. The rigging is really fascinating and you go zipping from one side of the canyon, across deep canyons to the other side. You come to stop in a tree, step to the other side of the platform, hook in to the next cable and zip on across. You do this mebbe a half a dozen times. It really is quite a blast. Kind of expensive.

CRtreedude might invite you to his farm if you offer to do some work there.
 
Canopy Tours

I just got back from Costa Rica. I too, was really looking forward to these 'tours'. I envisioned scenes from the "Medicine Man" movie. Nice way to enjoy views of the rain forest. NOT!! The picture below was my first indication that this was not a leisurely sightseeing tour. These things are thrill rides! You can enjoy the views between zips, but at 50 or 60 mph on some and as much as 400 or 500 above the ground(the ones crossing canyons) zipping along with just your climbing harness you're not doing it for the scenery. Some were more laid back from tree top to tree top (still not for the weak of heart) and some were absolutely INTENSE!

You'll be at an advantage to be familiar with and have trust in the harness, but there wasn't any 'climbing' on any that I took. There are also some rappelling excursions down the face of active waterfalls.

I couldn't recommend a trip more strongly than Costa Rica. The people there are beautiful and friendly. It's a wonderful place. Beaches and mountains galore. Most easy to get to... except that durn Monteverde that TM speaks of.... one rough road. But you've got to go there.... reminded me of an old-west town. They have a cloud forest there with hiking trails.
 
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I just saw where CRtreedude is near the Arenal area. You've got to go there too. My first ride was the Arenal Paraiso Canopy tour. The staff there are unbelievably competent, friendly and caring. If you only do one canopy tour (you won't) make it the Arenal Paraiso. There are faster and more high-tech tours but this is the perfect introduction to great scenery, good people, and a wonderful country.
 
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then and now

COOL Buckduck! Thanks for sharing. The Costa Rica you describe is of the beauty everywhere and the really great people. You can count on that.

I lived there for a year, back in 90/91. I remember then thinking, "Wow, I'm seeing this place before it's gotten too Americanized". I took Elizabeth back there ten years later and lo and behold, it had gotten WAY more Americanized; a lot more paved roads (a good thing) a lot more vehicles on those roads (not so much a good thing). San Jose had a Lowe's and a LOT more Ticos (Costa Ricans) spoke better degrees of English. It helps to know some Spanish, but honestly, Spanish is truly unnecessary anymore.

After Costa Rica harvested most of the country's trees (60's 70's), the tree huggers came in by the hoards going "Save the Rainforests!" (this is good). There were still a lot of more remote areas where virgin rainforest still existed, and protection status got applied to all kinds of places. Now with no logging profits, they had to do something. EcoTourism was born. I think the Costa Rican govt. was surprised that people from around the world would come there just to hike in their woods, but tourists brought money, and the number of them kept increasing.

Through the 70's 80's and 90's there was a solid infrastructure put in place to accomodate ever-increasing numbers of touristas, everything from intercountry plane flights, more taxis, and of course, lodging and accomodations, better language skills and of course, fun stuff to do.

Now, there's LOTS of fun stuff to do and lots of places to stay and lots of ways to get around. Tourism saved Costa Rica. Today is the result of 30 years of 'shift' so the country can show themselves off in their best light. I think it's just remarkable. As long as you go there, smile a lot and have a true, authentic respect for the people, you will have the best time of your life.

And the beer is good.
 
Nope. Not as politically stable, a LOT more poverty-stricken and desperate people. Awful roads and transportation infrastructure, not really well set up for tourism except for in the city (not plural). They're recuperating from old civil wars (think words like 'rebel' 'Sandanista') You don't go hiking in the jungles here.

If you were to maybe go to a coastal fishing lodge for snook and tarpon and you weren't traveling the country, maybe. I get this info from a Woodmizer technician who used to go there to install and service bandmills. He got around.

If you don't speak good Spanish, you'll have a difficult time communicating in Nicaragua. Not so in Costa Rica.
 
Cool pictures thanks for sharing. Was that sloth road kill or still moving across the freeway?

As far as Nicaragua, I agree, pretty unstable. If you like to collect countries, basically to say you have been there, there is a pretty cool place on the border. I went to a place called The Rio Colorado Lodge on the Costa Rica/Nic border. It was big for tarpin fishing. You can beach on the river bank in Nicaragua. BTW-even that seemed a little unsafe. If you are looking for a little more stability go to Honduras. I especially will recommend Roatan Island in Honduras. Awesome place to go. Scuba and snorkeling is top end.

As far as canopy tours, I don't know about Honduras, but did find these links.
http://www.roatanonline.com/moreroatan/ladies_luncheon.htm
http://www.letsgohonduras.com/temporada_eng/nuevas_atracciones_canopy_eng.html
http://www.roatanisland.net/rollercoaster.htm
So I am sure they have it.
 
Sloth

Darin:
.
No, the sloth wasn't dead. Some local kids were pestering it... probably for the tourists. Those things are weird creatures, especially when they are 'moving.

Friends that live down there assure me that Nicaragua is soon to be the place to go. Now that they are over their civil war things are getting better. It will be much like Costa Rica years ago. Even though it's not hard to find very, very remote places in Costa Rica, still. It's just easier to find the upscale (and expensive) places that cater to tourists.

TM, is it Tico's? I thought they were saying "Tica's" and "Nica's".

Anyway, it's a great trip. Only 3 hours out of Houston or Miami.
I'll be back, for sure.
... and Imperial's THE BEER!!!
 
KentuckySawyer....

Take a few of the 'tours' out of San Jose if you don't know anyone down there. Then rent a car and just drive coast to coast.
 
...,.. followed this interesting item for miles along a winding mountain road.
They also drive cattle and horses on the roads. Fun.
 
Thanks for all the great input and pictures, fellas. It will come in handy as we figure out where we're going. Originally we were going to use a "time share" that my parents aren't using, but those things seem to be too much of a hassle. Nothing in Hawaii till 2006 and the same for all of Central America. It seems that we could travel cheaply in Central America and not suffer for lack of the time share accomodations.
 
http://www.biesanz.com/ While in San Jose' you should take a trip into the outskirts of the city, up into the surrounding mountainside and visit Barry's woodworking showroom. I did a 6 month apprenticeship under Barry while I lived down there and his work is simply astounding. He also has a full-scale tree nursery where he grows tropical hardwood species in an attempt to aid reforestation in the country.

Darin mentioned the Rio Colorado fishing lodge. Elizabeth and I spent 5 days there. The lodge manager at the time was Jerilyn Ruhlow, an adventure woman / Mom whose extreme spirit still tops that of anyone I've ever met. She came up to Indiana a year or so later because she wanted to learn basic tree care and climbing. She stayed with Elizabeth and I for a week. I paid her 200 a day and taught her all I could, sent her back with Silkys and pruners and whatnot. Friends for life. There's pictures of her here on Arboristsite, firing a bigshot.
 
I wish I knew where to find her. She did a lot of guided tours, esp. on mountain bike.
attachment_6329.php
 
Thanks Tree Machine. I've been toying with working on certification as an arborist. Hopefully this interaction will fuel the direction that I need to go in. I'm exploring the different avenues to keep climbing.

JimK
 

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