Ecoboerderijtour en waterbuffels

This is the perfect kayak tour (or small boat, if you prefer). You start the tour with tasty fruits and information on a beautiful palm oil plantation. Our kayak guide was Jonny Arturo and he is amazing! SO knowledgeable about the flora and fauna and the unique relationships in the mangrove forest. You can’t help but respect the area and everything in it. We saw birds, bats, lizards, and a troop of white-faced capuchin monkeys. Had a terrific time! Afterwards, we had a traditional breakfast prepared by two kind and hard-working women. This is the tour to take!

Main lady at reception desk (who was also the one to give the tour) seemed irritated the entire time and was not afraid to show it on her face as well as how she spoke to people. She seemed bored and that guests and walking through the tour was an inconvenience to her. This “tour” was maybe ten minutes long. All the tour included was a simple gesture to ‘this is where the eco farm tour is’, with little to no explanation and then a 30 second walk to where the water buffalos were. Guests had the option to ride one of the water buffalos which is neat but the reigns they used to guide the buffalo were tied to a nose ring which they obviously pulled on to get the animal to go. The buffalo clearly didn’t want to move but gave in because they keep pulling until the buffalo moves. I saw the buffalo wince a couple times from them pulling. We ultimately came to this location for the mangrove kayak and didn’t know/forgot this tour was part of the excursion. If I would’ve known they would be exploiting animals I would not have chosen this location. The buffalos were super calm and beautiful though, it’s unfortunate they’re used for this purpose. If reigns were used in a more humane way, this would drastically change peoples feelings towards the experience.

Oscar was our guide on the eco tour and very knowledgeable and friendly. Cruz led Emerson - the Buffalo pulling the cart - both quite enjoyable young gentlemen. We learned much about the place, several animals, birds, etc. Would be good to know there is a lot of walking - I don't suggest sandals as I wore and bring a backpack or place all your belongings in your pockets as opposed to a purse as you'll be away from the cart for an extended period of time. It was a bit disheartening to learn the trip is $20 cheaper if you walk up and book instead of through TripAdvisor. Did not learn as much about the palm oil plantation, production, history or uses of the products as we thought from the description or would have liked.