Aug 5, 2024
Great learning experience!! - Duck was suck a knowledgeable and caring tour guide. He clearly has a passion for his work and gave us an experience of a lifetime! These four friends on a girls trip are so grateful to have crossed paths with Duck and to have had such a rich experience here in Costa Rica!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jun 20, 2024
Great day trip to the Blue River - This was a great tour. Harold aka “”Doc” was a wonderful guide. He is very knowledgeable and friendly and gave us such an informative private tour of Tenorio National Park and the Blue River. The sloth sanctuary was really interesting with so much wildlife. I highly recommend this tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 18, 2024
Beautiful rain forest, must not miss! - We started at the Sloth Sanctuary where our guide Kelman showed us the red eyed tree frog, a Tapir, several sloths and an eyelash pit viper. He was very knowledgeable and a great photographer. The kids really enjoyed seeing these animals in their native habitat instead of a zoo. Then we drove up to to the volcano to hike to Rio Celeste Falls. It is about 2 miles each way, so take water, but enjoy the refreshing rain forest. The stairs to the falls are pretty steep, but it's totally worth it. Then we ate lunch in the small town and it was easily the best food I ate on the entire vacation. The chicken and rice was amazing! There was a butterfly farm at the restaurant. The only downfall of the entire day was on the way back when our van, supplied by Gabriel's, started having transmission issues. We slowly made it back to Liberia where the van died. But we were picked up by the owner of Corea Travel in a very nice van with an ice cold AC and he got us back to our resort safely.
Review provided by Viator
Feb 16, 2024
Great Day at the Rio Celeste and Sloth Sanctuary - Our guide Harold (Duck) was very knowledgeable. He answered all of our questions and was the best. He even waited with us and made sure we were ok while walking up all 284 steps from the waterfall. I would definitely recommend this tour . We had a mixed group ranging from 13- 70 plus and everyone enjoyed it. Having your own private van and guide was definitely a plus. If you’re considering this tour don’t hesitate just do it. I researched a lot of other tours and this was a great experience and value. Also it’s the rainforest so be prepared for rain ie bring a poncho and wear something you don’t mind wearing soaking wet.
Review provided by Viator
Feb 2, 2024
10/10 - the best of CR in a day - This was our second tour with Neotropical. We enjoyed our first tour with them so much we wanted to do another tour with our guide Duck. We are thorough travellers and enjoy learning about local culture, ecology & nature, and eating local foods. Our guide Duck is highly knowledgeable about CR and has been a guide in the country for many years which helps to learn more about history of the country & specific regions within the country.
This tour allowed us to travel to another province in the country (leave the dry lowlands and go to the tropical Caribbean side) and see the volcano range, the countryside where local farmers live & manage the land, and to hike in the rainforest and learn about the weather, plants & vegetation, animals and what CR is doing to protect and share this beautiful country for generations to come. Eat at the local fruit stand!! Unreal fruit, you understand the blue zone this way & beautiful way of life in CR.
The waterfall was beautiful - prepare to wear good walking/ hiking shoes, comfortable clothing and for many steps!
Afterwards, you hop back in the tour van and go to a local sloth sanctuary where young local guides are learning & practising for their future careers in educating other visitors and locals in the importance of preservation of the environment & more about plans & animals that call this region home. We saw several sloths from afar (they are not caged and live wild), toucans, snakes, various bugs.
Lastly, you eat at a local soda/countryside family run restaurant for a great traditional CR meal (many choices and very delicious). They also have a butterfly garden to enjoy on site.
Highly recommend this tour, but more specifically our guide (Duck). He cares so much for his country, educating others, is a safe driver and most importantly is so enjoyable to spend the day with. People like Duck are the embodiment of the CR people. Pura Vida!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 23, 2023
Great day! Highly recommend! - Highly recommend this adventure in Rio Celeste. As others have said Harold our tour guide was amazing. My wife and I had a private tour with him and on the 2 1/2 hour ride out to the National park he gave us great insight into the history, culture and geography of Costa Rica. He allowed us to move at our own pace during the day which we both appreciated. Highlights for us were of course the stunning waterfall, seeing sloths up close and a wonderful lunch. A perfect day in paradise!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 23, 2023
Outstanding - Friendly and so knowledgeable. Great opportunity to learn about Costa Rica and it’s amazing rainforests. The traditional lunch and service was wonderful. And the sloth tour was beyond expectations-off the regular path but worth it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 22, 2022
Excellent tour guide! - Since this was my first trip to Costa Rica- I was unsure of what to expect. This trip would have not been the same without the guidance of Harold! He is awesome! With Harold as our guide, I felt very safe, in good hands and well taken care of. Harold was very knowledgable about so many things about Costa Rica, I was very impressed. Harold truly a good person, very well rounded and just a perfect host. The tour entailed going to Rio Celeste waterfall, a wonderful lunch, a Sloths adventure and then shopping! Next time I go back to Costa Rica - I am contacted Harold for every day I will be there! Once he knows what you would like - he takes care of everything! He went above and beyond and made my first trip to Costa Rica AMAZING!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 18, 2022
Rio Celeste, sloths, monkeys AND Harold! A MUST! - This was our 2nd tour with Harold. Why? Because we loved him so much we knew we only wanted to tour with him for this amazing experience.
First about Harold, he is wickedly brilliant and the most kind person I’ve ever met. He is full of joy and passion for life. He is quick witted and has a great sense of humor… who wouldn’t want to spend their day with him?
Now for the tour. Where to begin… Rio Celeste is the most beautiful place on earth! When you visit and see this with your own eyes, you will be in awe of this amazing planet earth that we get to call home. The colors, the sounds, the mist and the breeze leave you speechless. You cannot take enough pictures.
Then we had a fantastic lunch with Harold. What a quaint spot for lunch while we got to enjoy the beautiful butterfly garden.
Next we visited the gardens and this made our vacation! The garden itself is so beautiful and natural. The plants are vibrant and smell amazing. We saw a young sloth up close and we were spellbound. We could have spent all day standing there admiring him. We saw several other sloths throughout the gardens up high in the trees. We saw hoer monkeys and spider monkeys and enjoyed watching them jump from tree to tree. We saw the most beautiful frog… who knew frogs were so beautiful? I also tasted the termites! Yes, I ate them fresh from the nest. Don’t be scared… try it! This adventure was by far my favorite. My heart was full.
Last, Harold took us to a great souvenir shop where we were able to taste chocolates and coffee, and of course indulge in a little shopping.
Do yourself a favor, book this tour and befriend Harold. Best 2 decisions you will make in Costa Rica!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 20, 2024
CR untouched land and natural beauty - The tour guide,Duck or was it Doug? I couldn’t hear well in the back. He is very knowledgeable and is very professional. He mentions in there beginning to pace ourselves in order to conserve our energy. We had a private tour with ages as young as 2.5 year old to 68 years of age. Or day ended up being rain from morning till afternoon. The waterfall was a light blue-green so at least we got to see some color. It was beautiful but the 200 plus steps looked steep for my father and my 6 year old daughter. We were going to continue but wasn’t sure to with our little 2.5 year old. I think if the weather was nicer so that the steps weren’t wet we all would go down and take pictures. He let us know where the stops are for restrooms and where to get fruits and souvenirs. My parents interests are different from common western tourists . They enjoyed the waterfall but was hoping for a fruit marketplace (like a farmers market) to try out CR local exotic fruits that we don’t normally get to eat in the US! But nonetheless the tour was great. We saw snakes, sloth, many tropical fruits, bats, CR National bird. The lunch place was so cute and the food was authentic and flavorful. Butterfly mini farm was so cute the kids loved it! I think this was perfect for families not thrill seekers!! Pura Vida! Thank you for showing us beautiful Costa Rica! We all appreciated the beauty and hospitality.
Review provided by Tripadvisor