Caño Negro Boat Tour: Wildlife Exploration and Birdwatching in Costa Rica

Embark on a wildlife exploration and birdwatching adventure in Costa Rica’s unique Caño Negro. Discover diverse flora and fauna, including egrets, herons, monkeys, caimans, and more. Don’t forget to bring your own water bottle!

Duration: 9 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge - Our tour starts in La Fortuna at 7:30 am. On the way to Caño Negro you will have the opportunity to learn about numerous agricultural plantations of Costa Rica such as yucca, papaya, pineapple, sugar cane and oranges.

Then we will arrive at the “El Caiman” restaurant, where we will enjoy a welcome drink and snack, before the boat tour on the “Rio Frio” river.

Here we will have 2.5 hours to see egrets, herons, monkeys, caimans, iguanas, bats and a variety of flora.

An excellent Costa Rican typical meal will be waiting for us, back at El Caiman Restaurant and while we have lunch, we can talk about the unforgettable experiences on the river.

What's Included
  • Transportation included - refer to ¨Pickup information¨ for more details
  • Professional Driver/Guide provided
  • All taxes, fees, and handling charges covered
  • Complimentary snacks provided
  • Lunch included in the tour
  • No additional fuel surcharges
What's Not Included
  • Dinner
  • Gratuities
  • Bottled water
Additional Information

Unique Caño Negro is one of the most amazing trips for incredible birdwatching in Costa Rica.

Our tour starts in La Fortuna at 7:30 am. On the way to Caño Negro you will have the opportunity to learn about numerous agricultural plantations of Costa Rica such as yucca, papaya, pineapple, sugar cane and oranges.

Then we will arrive at the ‘El Caiman’ restaurant, where we will enjoy a welcome drink and snack, before the boat tour on the ‘Rio Frio’ river.

Here we will have 2 hours to see egrets, herons, monkeys, caimans, iguanas, bats and a variety of flora.

An excellent Costa Rican typical meal will be waiting for us, back at El Caiman Restaurant and while we have lunch, we can talk about the unforgettable experiences on the river.

Indispensable practice friendly to the environment: BRING YOUR OWN WATER BOTTLE.

  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
  • May be operated by a multi-lingual guide
  • Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
  • Comfortable walking shoes are recommended
  • Hotel Pickup and drop-off is included if hotel location is between La Fortuna and Hotel Tabacón on Route 142, otherwise extra charges apply depending on hotel location.
Location
Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(187 Ratings)
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David_f
Jul 25, 2024
Great opportunity for photographers. - Very comfortable. Good facilities at the dock. . This was my third time on this tour. I will go again. Thank you.
Review provided by Viator
Alejandro
Jul 22, 2024
Extraordinary! - Great experience for the whole family. I had no previous experience and I became too father to learn and enjoy it
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Romana_s
Jul 11, 2024
Beautiful trip! - Great guide Juado, great driver Alonso, everything organized, fruits and drinks, provides information about everything around, we've seen all different kinds of species of animals, very good lunch (big selection), length fine, bonus activity included - trying out moonshine, chocolate beans and chocolate, local coffee... overall a beautiful experience - caño negro is the wildlife biodiversity heaven!!!
Review provided by Viator
Natalie_j
Jun 19, 2024
Amazing experience! - I absolutely loved this tour! Our guide was Chino and driver Alonso, who were both great. You begin with a 1.5 to 2 hour drive to the river. The last 20 minutes or so are really bumpy as the road isn't good, so prepare yourself (it's worth it!). There are toilets when you arrive and they served us coffee, juice and fruit which was nice. After this, you take a two hour boat trip on the Rio Frio, and our expert guide worked super hard to help us find monkeys especially. We saw howler monkeys, white faced capuchins, and spider monkeys, as well as caiman, kingfishers, egrets, and iguanas. Chino even took photos for us, which he shared. Afterwards, there was a delicious lunch with lots of vegetarian options (I had a wonderful vegetarian casado). This was followed by a short stop at a farm where you can taste a variety of things including chocolate, coffee and sugarcane. No one tried to sell us anything here, so we didn't feel hassled. After this, we took the journey back which lasted about 2 hours. I booked the tour the day before and got a message from the company confirming our pick up time. We were picked up at 7.50am and returned at 4pm. This tour is great value for money and I would highly recommend it!
Review provided by Viator
B3275xwbonnieb
May 20, 2024
Great boat tour and lunch - Our guide, Jorge, was friendly, knowledgeable and very helpful with taking pictures. We saw 3 types of monkeys, many birds and other animals. The lunch was very good and every staff member was wonderful.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cruiser64309211703
May 1, 2024
Unbeatable day trip - Roy is a wonderful guide. All the activities we did were explained well and provided us with a lot of interesting information that we didn't know. Totally recommendable to experience it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Svrkage
Apr 27, 2024
Great ! - We took an excursion to Cano Negr.o The organization went well and they came to pick us up from our hotel on time. We had Roy as our guide and Ronald as our driver. It went very well. The Cano Negr.o reserve is full of life and we are far from mass tourism. The boat ride was very pleasant and we were a group of 4 people with the river to ourselves. It was a magical moment. There were quite a few animals including monkeys, different types of birds, tortoises, caimans etc. Roy was caring, reassuring and had an eye. He has good knowledge of the fauna and flora and is keen to share it. I recommend !
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Frenchwhitecat
Apr 27, 2024
Nice visit - Thanks to Roy and Ronald for this excursion. It was perfectly on point and almost tailor-made. I recommend several animals to look after.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mark
May 3, 2024
Worth the long ride - Long (1.5 hours from Nayara Garden) and bumpy ride (last 5 miles) but worth it. Jason was a great and friendly guide. We saw spider monkeys, white faced monkeys, and howler monkeys. A few caimans, lots of heron type birds, huge iguana and turtles. The river and ginormous silk tres are sights of their own. The restaurant in the ad looks scary but the food is good. From La Fortuna area it’s basically a full day affair, leaving at 7:30 and arriving back about 4pm. So if you don’t mind a long van ride it’s worth it. On the other hand we had monkeys outside our cabana later on.
Review provided by Viator
Lingquan_d
May 23, 2024
Good tour but won’t do it again - The ride to the river to see the wildlife was worth it. We saw lots of monkeys, all kinds of birds, some turtles, and lots of caimans. The guides were passionate about their job and explained things very well. One of them even gave us his whatsapp number so we could contact him to ask for the photos he took with his professional camera. What went wrong was after we were back to the restaurant where the tour started for lunch. The food was very good but the restaurant was way too hot, and not enough fans to cool us down. It was 92F with 100% humidity with no airflow. We were just melting away. What’s worse is that after I finished eating and was walking around, I saw the guides and the only Spanish speaking couple were sitting in a well air conditioned area by themselves when there were clearly enough room to fit the whole group. I don’t know why they didn’t let us sit there in the first place, or why they didn’t ask us to move there. So I asked one of the guides (Jason) why they didn’t let us sit there? He acted like he was completely innocent but that over reaction made me think this arrangement was completely on purpose so they can have that area for themselves, and he’s probably part of it. This behavior definitely blended in a different flavor to this tour. Overall the tour was fun, but it’s not something that I would want to do again.
Review provided by Viator
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up to 15 guests
2 Adult
September 2024
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