Birding Watching tour from San José

An excellent experience! A one hour drive from San Jose brought us to this reserve. On arrival we saw a coati, two types of toucans and a sloth. With the help of our guide we saw a manakin, two types of trogons, wood creepers, tanagers, hummingbirds, eyelash pit vipers and a myriad of plants, spiders, insects and flowers. You would not likely see the quetzal here as they are usually resident at much higher elevations in the cloud forests. Our guide Marvin was extremely knowledgeable about all of the flora and fauna of the reserve, he "talks" to the birds in more ways than one. He was professional, courteous and was a pleasure to talk to, ask for Marvin. We went off the beaten path to look for some of these creatures (the high point for me). The aerial tram took us through the treetops and into the valleys, a perspective you would not normally get otherwise. There is a restaurant where were had a lovely breakfast and lunch, there are also bathrooms, and a gift shop. Walk with insect repellent, long pants and good sturdy walking or hiking shoes that can get dirty especially if you're going off path into the bush. If you stay on the paved path you can get by in shorts, but still wear shoes. The pathways are easy enough for children and older people, however if you go onto the unpaved paths these two groups may find it challenging as the path can get a bit steep and slippery sometimes. This was a thoroughly enjoyable outdoor experience!

We booked this tour because of its title, Birding Tour and because Braulio Carrillo National Park got very good reviews in our Costa Rica travel book. However, that day all the birds had gone somewhere else as had all of the animals except bullet ants. We saw very few birds flying at a great distance from one of the viewing platforms and a couple of toucans at the very tops of trees, so high that you only saw them if they flew. On a more positive note, our guide, Jorge, was knowledgeable about plants and the rain forest generally and very friendly and helpful. The aerial gondola ride was very nice, and the butterfly garden, snake and frog exhibits were interesting. I was really hoping to see a quetzal and an umbrellabird, listed as very prominent in the park in my Open Roads Guide Book. But Jorge was very discouraging about that and rightly so. Our driver from San Jose was on time and also gave us some information during the ride to the park, which took far longer than expected, given the 12 miles stated in the same book. Overall this excursion was a letdown, since we saw no animals or birds, somewhat counterbalanced by our guide and the views from the gondola and the platforms.