Palo Verde National Park River Jungle Safari

Our tour guide Alex, was so welcoming and interested in us having a good time; that this was easily the best activity I’ve ever been on. He was friendly, welcoming, funny and inviting to his culture that I could not have had any other opportunity to experience. He was not only knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the river cruise, but made stops to and from pointing out native things that people have used or been accustomed to ready to go. Like natural plant remedies, where to find animals in their native habitat without disturbing them. Knew of local restaurants for native dishes. He even waited for us without a time limit or complaint for souvenirs and taking part on local customs like processing sugar canes.

For the second consecutive year, after such a good experience in 2022, we opted to book our tours with Alex on the Beach, at the Monkey Bar (where we went often!). Our first tour was a river boat cruise along the River Tempisque, in the Palo Verde National Park. Our guides for this tour were Alejandra (the driver) and Daniel, who were both superb; genuinely enthusiastic, and extremely knowledgeable about wildlife, and Costa Rica in general. We saw crocodiles, monkeys, iguanas, ospreys (Alejandra managed to video one in flight with a fish), herons, fish, bats, and numerous other birds. Excellent experience! We then went to the rainforest, at Spring Paradise Bijagua, where our guide was David. He was again extremely enthusiastic about his job, and amazing at spotting well concealed and camouflaged wildlife! Though it rained heavily for part of the time that we were there, it did not spoil the experience; we bought a couple of ponchos! We saw tree vipers, red eyed tree frogs, poison dart frogs, sloths, hummingbirds, and various other birds. David even took photographs with my 'phone for us, using his binoculars as a telephoto lens! Again, thanks David! We then went to see a chocolate and coffee plantation, and saw the process from tree/plant, to end product, which we sampled. We initially thought that this would be boring, but it was the exact opposite! There were various other plants to see, including bananas. The second tour that we booked was a private (as the "booze cruise" isn't for us!) sunset cruise in the Gulf of Papagayo. The boat was crewed by Michael and "B", and we were again accompanied by Alejandra. We were picked up on the beach outside our hotel (the Riu Palace Guanacaste) at 3.00pm. We toured around "Monkey Island", various beaches, where we saw racoons/coatis, and stopped for my wife to do some snorkelling. We also had dolphins swimming alongside the boat, so close that we could have touched them. "B" also rigged a fishing rod up to let me catch my first Spanish Mackerel! We were supplied with soft drinks, beer, and fresh pineapple. The sunset on the way back to the hotel was spectacular. We would not hesitate to recommend Alex on the Beach for your tours if you are staying in the area. Thanks again to our guides, Alejandra, Daniel (many thanks for the books!), David, Michael, and "B", and to Alex for arranging it all. See you next year hopefully! Robert (Ian) and Denise.

Fernando worked with us on our time since getting there on time was problematic. We probably chose a less than optimal time to go since it was September and not winter in the north when many birds migrate south, but we saw some monkeys, iguanas, crocodiles, and a few birds. The trip is an interesting introduction to wildlife in Guanacaste, and we found the typical lunch very tasty. Fernando is a knowledgeable guide.