Monteverde Costa Rica

The Canopy Tour – The Canopy Tour near Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve has 11 platforms. This tour is unique because you climb up the inside of a strangler fig tree to a platform. The strangler fig is the larger tree to the right in this photograph. It grows upward around the outside of a host tree and eventually “strangles” it. The host tree eventually dies and decays, leaving the hollow strangler fig. This tour features more rappelling, and was the first Canopy Tour location in the World.

Hiking/birdwatching in the Cloud Forest Reserves – This is what Monteverde is famous for. We recommend guided hikes, because guides know the trails and where to find the animals. Early morning hikes are best because the birds and wildlife are more active. Monkeys, birds, and other mammals can be found at Monteverde. Two-toed sloths like this one are primarily nocturnal. Costa Rica has 5 sloth species divided into two categories: two-toed and three-toed sloths. Sloths are solitary and slow-moving creatures. Because their diet consists of leaves, they have slow metabolic rates and low body temperatures. A sloth will change trees only once every two days on average.

• Beautiful scenery
  
• 2 Cloud Forest Reserves
  
• Nice, rustic hotels
  
• Great hiking
  
• Excellent birdwatching
  

• The roads are atrocious
  
• Crowds of people in the forest reserves
  
• THE ROADS!!!
  
• Isolated and difficult to get to
  

El Establo
El Sapo Dorado