After our adventures through Rincon de la Vieja NP, Monteverde, Manuel Antonio NP, Dominical and La Paz Waterfall Gardens, our final destination in Costa Rica was Sarapiqui and, specifically, the renowned eco-lodge Selva Verde. It was probably the place Dean and I were looking forward to most due to its rainforest setting, biodiversity and more remote, rural location. The area is also famous for white water rafting which, pre-kids, we’d have been first in line for!
Selva Verde Lodge was as wonderful as we’d hoped, and staying for a few nights meant we had time to both relax and explore. A web of boardwalks and paths join spacious bedrooms on stilts with the communal areas.
Walking between places can take some time because of having to stop to examine a poison dart frog or a colourful bird or a terrapin or a dragonfly or an iguana in a treetop or some other kind of lizard along the way! It seems unbelievable but all these creatures really were just next to the paths!
The flora was amazing too!
The breakfast was great – a small range of local and international hot dishes alongside fresh fruits, cereals, toast, pastries and lots more. It tasted even better because we could eat it with a view over the bird feeding station where there was always a beautiful array of visitors. Here are far too many photos but only a tiny fraction of those taken!
We also ate in the on-site restaurant – an Italian – each evening and really enjoyed everything we tried. The staff were so kind, especially to the kids. And two-and-a-half-year-old Tiny even felt comfortable enough to say, ‘Gracias’ for her food unprompted!
We had a family room with more beds than we needed – including the first travel cot of the trip which Tiny was excited to use! – the customary coffee machine, and a bench and hammock outside in which you could listen to the river, the howler monkeys and the birds. There may have been a couple of skittish cockroaches but, to be honest, after the scorpions, we saw them in a new light!
Of course, the kids were very excited about the pool and we spent many hours there, despite it being a bit on the cool side for me! Macaws flew overhead, monkeys lolled in the trees, and basilisk lizards (aka Jesus Christ lizards) skimmed across the water!
There were various tours and trips you could book via the hotel reception but one of the big draws of Selva Verde is that they have an area of private primary rainforest that only visitors can enter. So one of the two things we chose was a guided hike into that area. Thankfully no one else joined the tour so we were able to go at the girls’ pace.
We started by exploring some of the grounds where we saw a tiger heron fishing, a cormorant drying off its wings and marvelled at a few other curiosities such as the shells that cicadas climb out from as part of their metamorphosis, and the fur-like balsa tree seeds.
Then we crossed a huge suspended bridge and entered the forest. I always think that exploring primary rainforest feels like such a privilege – like diving a coral reef: insignificant tiny human visitors admitted to a world where nature is still firmly in charge.
We were obviously on the hunt for some interesting wildlife but the flora can be just as exciting. There was an incredible 300-year-old strangler fig tree big enough for us to go inside (though full of cobwebs)!
There were leaf cutter ant motorways everywhere, and our guide also showed us an army of massive bullet ants, so-called because their sting is considered the most painful in the world. It’s similar to being shot, with the burning, throbbing agony lasting up to 24 hours!
Small turned into an expert strawberry dart (aka blue jeans) frog spotter – there were so many! Check out the tadpole clinging to the back of the frog on the final photo!
We also watched a couple of toucans flit from tree to tree for a while – tricky to keep track of in the dense forest.
The other activity we booked was a river boat tour. We had to drive a short distance to the dock and we fully expected a full boat so were pleasantly surprised to discover we were the only ones on it! Our driver-guide – Jose – was both friendly and very good at spotting wildlife!
We saw pretty much everything we hoped for, although some things were quite far away. There were lots of kingfishers including some hunting, tiger herons, sandpipers, ibis and several other unidentified birds.
We were lucky to see a family of howler monkeys with babies clambering all over their dozing parents: very relatable!
We did very well for reptiles too (look carefully at the last photo featuring a surprise photo-bomber!):
A particular highlight was watching this poor turtle being bothered by some butterflies and a very persistent bee, which kept trying to land on its nose.
All trip long, Small had been referring to the red eyed tree frog as ‘Mummy’s favourite frog’ but we’d not managed to find one in the wild until our very last night at Selva Verde where Dean found one in the pond outside the restaurant (photos taken on Dean’s phone)!
Key information: there are other reserves in the local area to visit; laundry can be done for a price; drinking water dispensers are everywhere; the boat tour was £32/$44 for adults and the guided nature walk was £26/$35.
If you stay and want to venture out for some cheaper, local food, you can’t go wrong with Soda el Kora or there are fried chicken shops and bakeries nearby too.
Finally, I want to mention Pack for a Purpose. It’s a great organisation which links up with projects in communities around the world and shares a list of items they appreciate as donations. We want the kids to grow up appreciating how fortunate they are and to know that there are ways they can help others less fortunate. When we realised that one of the Costa Rican drop-off places was Selva Verde Lodge, we knew we needed to take advantage of the opportunity. We didn’t take much – just school supplies – but each of the girls had a pack to hand over and it gave us the chance to open up this important conversation with them. In reality, on this trip, they’ve mainly been surrounded by tourists and people in the tourism industry so it was more abstract than we might have anticipated but it’s something we can hopefully do again on future trips in one way or another.
—
All information is correct at the time of posting. Follow us on Instagram @four_go_exploring for more independent family adventures.
Check back soon for our guide covering accommodation and loads of practical information to help you plan a visit.
In case you missed them, here’s how the earlier destinations in the trip unfolded:
world wandering wonderings 