Costa Rica Wildlife Tours

Wildlife Trips to Costa Rica

Discover the wonderful wildlife of Costa Rica on a wildlife adventure that will change the way you see the world. Here, lizards walk on water and frogs have strawberry-red eyes, spiders spin webs of golden silk, and rainbow-coloured flocks of birds soar through the sky. Our Costa Rica wildlife holidays take you on unforgettable journeys of discovery, from its sublime Caribbean and Pacific coastlines to its dense jungles where you’ll get to meet some of the country’s most magnificent animals.

Costa Rica has one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world and its tropical climate makes it a breeding ground for exotic flora and fauna. Our Costa Rica wildlife tours have itineraries that are packed with adventures. While one day you’ll be sailing along the rich waterways of Torguguero, the next you’ll be hiking through the rainforest listening to the distinctive sounds of howler monkeys and squawking toucans.

On a Costa Rica wildlife holiday, you’ll explore all this and more, as the country is home to some 5% of the world’s animal and plant species. You’ll also visit the mist-shrouded canopies of the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, where monkeys can be seen swinging through the leafy canopies. Hike through Arenal Volcano National Park and visit the famous mud pools, look for dolphins off Carrillo beach, and perhaps watch green turtle hatchlings scramble towards the sea during nesting season. There is so much to discover on all our Costa Rica wildlife holidays, you’ll be talking about your trip for years to come.

Costa Rica Wildlife Holidays

15 Days from 4 318 €

4 080 €

Guided Group (Excl. Flights)

Join eagle-eyed guides for a wildlife-watching trip through mountains, rainforest and the Caribbean and Pacific coasts

Wildlife

15 Days from 3 960 €

Guided Group (Excl. Flights)

Experience the Costa Rican rainforest, mountains and coast

Wildlife

15 Days from 4 920 €

Guided Group (Excl. Flights)

Unrivalled wildlife viewing and Costa Rica's coastal wonders

Wildlife

8 Days from 2 640 €

Guided Group (Excl. Flights)

Jungles, mountains and coast: Costa Rica is a natural paradise

Wildlife

15 Days from 4 320 €

Guided Group (Excl. Flights)

Natural highlights from the Caribbean to the Pacific Coast.

Culture

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Top 5 Animals to See on a Costa Rica Wildlife Holiday

Scarlet Macaws: Often seen during our Costa Rica wildlife holidays, the scarlet macaw is easily recognised by its brightly coloured plumage. It is the largest of the parrot family and is mostly spotted along the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Its high-pitched squawk is also instantly recognisable, meaning these beautiful birds are usually heard before they’re seen. In Costa Rica the macaw is known as lapas and their huge beaks are used to crack open the tough shells of nuts and seeds. They tend to congregate in large flocks when they are roosting and feeding.

Turtles: Arguably the most synonymous with Costa Rica, the turtle often draws visitors here from all over the world to witness their mating and nesting habits. Tortuguero is the most well-known place for the endangered green turtle, which comes to lay eggs on the beach between the months of July and October. The Hawksbill, Giant Leatherback and Loggerhead turtles also nest here, and you can watch their eggs hatch and the babies make their short journey to the ocean between November to January. On our Costa Rica Adventure tour, you’ll enjoy a night time trip to Camaronal Beach to see the turtles nesting and laying their eggs in the sand.

Sloths: With their adorable smiling faces and sleepy heads, the cuteness of the sloth is hard to resist. On our Costa Rica wildlife tours, you’ll have the opportunity to get up close to these furry creatures with tours in Esquinas Rainforest Nature Reserve, Tortuguero and Monteverde, where they are most often seen napping in the trees. The sloth sleeps up to 20 hours a day high up in the forest canopies and did you know they also have algae covering their fur to camouflage them from predators?

Howler Monkeys: Another noisy creature that lives in the forests of Costa Rica is the Howler monkey. Named after its piercing call, it is heard swinging through the trees of Manuel Antonio National Park, Monteverde, Arenal and along the Caribbean Coast. They tend to live in small groups and the alpha male is usually the one heard howling the loudest. They can weigh up to 22 pounds with a body of up to 3 feet long. So, if you’re keen to spot a Howler monkey on one of our Costa Rica wildlife tours, just listen out for their unique cry.

Dolphins: Boasting a stunning coastline along the Pacific and Caribbean oceans, Costa Rica is a wonderful place to visit to see dolphins in the wild. On our Discover Costa Rica Wildlife Holiday, we take you on a private boat trip off the beach of Carrillo to look for Bottlenose and Spinner dolphins, which are often spotted playing in the ocean. Dolphins are extremely inquisitive and friendly creatures and sometimes they’ll even swim under the boat. In Costa Rica, dolphins are found throughout the year on the Pacific Coast so there’s a much greater chance of you spotting them on Costa Rica wildlife holidays.

FAQs on Costa Rica Wildlife Holidays

Where is the most wildlife in Costa Rica?

Everywhere you go, Costa Rica is brimming with wildlife, but we seek out the best spots where you’ll most likely come face-to-face with some of the country’s most impressive creatures. Tortuguero National Park is undoubtedly one of the best places to visit on our Costa Rica wildlife holidays. The Park is made up of swamps and meandering waterways where you’ll discover hundreds of species of birds, monkeys, butterflies, iguanas, caiman and the famous Costa Rica turtles, including the Hawksbill, Loggerhead, Green turtle and Giant Leatherback.

On our Costa Rica wildlife tours, you’ll explore various rainforests which are buzzing with fascinating creatures such as toucans, monkeys, sloths, possums and coatis. In particular, Monteverde is a great place to experience animal encounters on our Costa Rica wildlife holidays. But if it’s marine animals you’re looking for, then head to Manuel Antonio National Park where the marine reserve plays host to dolphins, whales and turtles as well as land mammals such as white-faced capuchin monkeys, mantled howlers and three-toed sloths.

What is the most common way to see animals in Costa Rica?

On our Costa Rica wildlife tours, we take you right to the heart of the action with guided walking tours along trails through the rainforests and boat trips down rivers and canals. You can also sail out onto the ocean to spot dolphins and whales in their natural habitat. The slow pace of the tours means you have a greater chance of meeting the local wildlife and watching them interact in their own environments.

What is the wildlife in Costa Rica?

Well, where do we start? With over 500,000 different animal species occupying this beautiful country, there are far too many to list them all. But some of the most iconic you could see on our Costa Rica wildlife holidays include:

Scarlet macaws
Frogs
Iguanas
Various species of turtles
Sloths
Monkeys
Coatis
Dolphins and whales
Caiman
Armadillos
Porcupines
Possums

Are there any bears in Costa Rica?

While they might not resemble the big grizzly or brown bears you’re most likely imagining, there are several small bears that can be found in Costa Rica, and these include the coati, kinkajou, slender bear, sloth and raccoon. Mostly inhabiting the jungles and hiding in trees, you might be lucky enough to spot one of these species, however, the racoon and coati are most commonly seen.

When’s the best time to visit Costa Rica?

Depending on what you want to see will determine the best time to visit Costa Rica. Although the temperatures are moderate throughout much of the year, the tropical climate does mean that you should always expect and prepare for some rain. Between December and April is the dry season and is a great time for viewing Costa Rica wildlife, however, these months do tend to attract the tourist crowds. In between the downpours during May and November, there is also lots of sunshine, which makes lush conditions for exploring the national parks.

Where can I see turtles in Costa Rica?

The best place to see turtles in Costa Rica is undoubtedly at Tortuguero National Park, along the North Caribbean Coast. There are four species of turtles that can be found here, including the green sea turtle, the leatherback turtle, the loggerhead turtle and the hawksbill turtle. The beaches of Tortuguero National Park provide nesting sites for the turtles, with Tortuguero Beach being the largest. The best times to see green turtles here is from July to mid-October and you’ll most likely spot leatherbacks between February and June.

When is the best month for whale watching in Costa Rica?

With humpback whales occupying the waters along the Pacific Coast for approximately eight months of the year, Costa Rica boasts one of the world’s longest whale watching seasons. The best months for Costa Rica wildlife tours that include whale watching are January to February and August to September. This is when these majestic mammals start to breed, meaning they are much more active. Humpback whales are most often spotted from August to October and December to April. You might also get to see other species such as sperm whales, killer whales and pilot whales.

What is Arenal National Park known for?

Wedged between the San Carlos plains and the foothills of Cordillera de Tilaran in northwest Costa Rica, Arenal National Park plays host to the dormant Chato Volcano and the country’s largest and most active volcano, Arenal. You’ll also find the largest lake here, Lake Arenal, which lies beneath the volcano and is surrounded by tropical rainforest teeming with wildlife. While exploring the national park, you’re most likely to spot white-faced monkeys, howler monkeys, deer, parrots and tapir. Formed by Arenal’s devastating eruption in 1968, lava rocks and lava fields make up many of the trails that wind through the park.

This trip had beautiful walks in the Carpathian mountains. Seeing the bears while in the hide was a highlight though. The visit to the bear sanctuary for rescued bears was also very moving. The hikes did require a high degree of fitness. Note that when we booked this trip was a level 2, but the same trip has been reclassified as a level 3, which in our experience is merited. The last day is the most challenging but the last part to the very peak is optional and was only done by a small part of our group. Our guide Sebi was excellent and paced the walk for the group’s abilities. He was also very knowledgeable about the local wildlife and customs.

Malcolm Vant Carpathian Walking & Bears

The itinerary for this trip was remarkable – saw oragutans and Komodo dragons in the wild, snorkeled, and enjoyed touring around Bali and the various islands. Did the Gili Trawangan extension and went scuba diving there. And Elly was a wonderful tour guide. However, there were some downsides, including the boat in the Komodo islands and some of the other transportation. The boat itself was not very comfortable, and actually a little dangerous in certain regards. The boat was not set up to accommodate the number of people on the tour, so was at times crowded and uncomfortable in the common area. There wasn’t just an option to sleep on the deck, but a requirement for a few people, as there were not enough cabins to accommodate the entire group. And when those deck sleepers needed to use a restroom in the middle of the night, they had to barge in to one of the cabins in the dark – no restrooms on the boat except inside the few cabins. The dining table where they served all the food buffet-style was crammed in a small room, with the stairs leading down to a couple of the cabins right alongside of the table -as you were getting your food, it would have been extremely easy to fall down them if you weren’t very careful. The refrigerator with all of our drinks was very often blocked by people sitting at the table, so there was major shuffling to do you when you wanted to get a drink. There was a low railing around the boat, which in rough seas would have been very easy to fall overboard.
there was only one support skiff with the boat that could only take half of us ashore at a time, so getting everyone onshore took forever. The local guide that accompanied us on the Komodo boat trip was not very good. He didn’t do any kind of assessment of everyone’s snorkeling abilities but instead took off on the first snorkel in a strong current, and didn’t look back to see if everyone was following, or try to keep the group together. People fell way behind and because there was only one skiff, that skiff couldn’t (nor ever intended to, it seemed) stay with the snorkelers. People were scattered over a large area in the water and in some cases, were told to just wait in the water when the first half of the group had already filled the skiff for the return trip to the big boat. It was a situation ripe with the potential for disaster. And the guide wasn’t around to stay with the people who had to remain in the water waiting. And if you wanted to jump in and swim off the big boat, the ladder was so high in the water that it was very difficult to get back on the boat – and there was no safety line deployed behind the boat to make it any easier, or safer, to get to the boat.

Other transportation was disappointing. The small group of us that went on the Gili Island extension had to wait over an hour at port the ferry terminal, after arriving back in Bali, for the driver to show up to transport people to the airport for thir flights. I stayed a couple extra nights in Bali before going home, and the driver that was supposed to transport me from the hotel to the airport never showed up at all – the hotel had to make alternate arrangements for me.

In closing, it was a wonderful, adventerous trip, but Exodus has some work to do to make it a little safer and comfortable.

Kathryn Curtis Primates & Dragons of Indonesia

This was a good trip but could have been even better. Highlights were seeing orangutans, proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants in their natural setting.
On day 2 trip notes state a day trip to Bako NP and we left hotel at 7.45am. Unfortunately we were back at hotel by 1.30pm and this included an hour spent having lunch at Bako. Felt that if Exodus weren’t giving us the day trip promised then they could have added in an optional afternoon trip perhaps to Semenggoh to see orangutans.
On day 5 you fly from Mulu NP to Kota Kinabalu and meet new guide as Exodus have recently changed the trip so that you have different guides in Sarawak and Sabah. This is difficult for both group and guide as you no sooner meet new guide than you have a free day in KK (unless you choose the snorkelling day trip option). Unfortunately the hotel in KK has no outdoor space or swimming pool and Exodus need to upgrade this hotel to make free day more comfortable.
Stay in longhouse on Day 7 is a one-off experience and some on group really didn’t enjoy the basic facilities on offer. Unfortunately day 8 was a Sunday and the tea factory was closed so this spoiled the tea factory visit as there is no atmosphere being shown round an empty factory.
When i booked trip we were meant to get an included lunch on day 8 because the Gomantong Caves were closed to the public. This was outwith Exodus control so this was an acceptable compromise however in July the caves were open to public. Exodus cancelled the “free” lunch on Day 8 but we then had to pay to enter Gomantong caves when we visited on Day 10. Seems a stupid example of penny pinching on a fairly expensive trip.
On the nights of days 10 and 11 we stayed at Nature Lodge on Kinabatangan River. No mosquito nets were provided in the rooms and most of the group were bitten. Food at Lodge was included but was fairly basic and poor quality. Three river cruises were included whilst staying at Nature Lodge but entire group was charged 60MYR a head for the final cruise because they took us upstream in search of pygmy elephants. It seemed unnecessary to charge group this extra £100+ as we had an included cruise, were not out for any longer than we would have been and probably used the same amount of fuel. Also didn’t like that it was compulsory- if entire group didn’t agree then trip to find elephants wouldn’t happen.
Borneo rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley was lovely but unless you opted out of arranged activities it was full on for the entire visit and exhausting.
My main concern on this trip was the amount charged for single supplement. This is not something that you give much thought to until you find yourself travelling solo. On this holiday paying the supplement only gets you your own room for 10 nights as you have to share for 2 nights at Mulu NP and Rainforest Lodge in Danum. The other 10 nights are spent in fairly average hotels and a quick check of prices showed that the entire cost of a room in these hotels was fractionally less than the single supplement. Given that the basic tour cost includes accommodation surely the single supplement should only charge the additional 50% cost of the room. I and other solo travellers on trip definitely felt ripped off by single supplement charged.

Linda Stalker Borneo Wildlife Discoverer