An activity that I was super excited for was the Tortuguero jungle walk. This was included as part of our stay at the Evergreen Lodge and was the first activity we did. I really was not sure what to expect and it was my first time in the Costa Rican jungle. Here is what you can expect.
Tortuguero Jungle Walk | Our Experience and What to Expect
The Route
Evergreen Lodge is on the further side of the Tortuguero village. It is quite isolated and there are no paths from it into the jungle. In fact, paths in the Tortuguero National Park are not common due to the terrain. Because of this, some hotels have had to purchase land and build their own walkways.
Our route began over the river at Ahninga Lodge, the sister hotel to Evergreen. We were met by Adrian who would be our guide for the afternoon. The walkway would take us around the hotel and into a small circuit amongst the trees. Unlike what I expected, the path was entirely concrete. This meant that our shoes did not get muddy and we could clearly see where we were going. I was a bit paranoid that we would be walking through the leaf litter, trying to avoid the spiders and snakes.
The entire walk took around 90 minutes to complete and was entirely flat. It was not strenuous at all; the only difficulty was the humidity!
The Wildlife
Of course, the main purpose of the walk was to see the wildlife in the National Park. It wasn’t long before we spotted some of the animals I had been dreaming of. Within the first 5 minutes, we had seen a toucan and a group of howler monkeys. We actually got surprisingly close up too, but had to dodge the falling mangoes… And poo!
Another early find was the golden orb spider. These are actually pretty large and are easily bigger than the giant house spiders I sometimes see at home. We saw one that had just been paralysed by a wasp, and was slowly getting dragged along the path. As we stopped to take a photo, a flash of brown came into the screen. A basilisk lizard had run over in front of us and grabbed a 2-for-1 meal deal.
Animals were not the only wildlife on offer. We saw plenty of Ficus trees, otherwise known as stranglers. I will go into more detail on future posts, but essentially these grow over old trees and kill them. Our Tortuguero jungle walk was filled with these skeletal trees. They were beautiful and home to lots of different invertebrates. We also saw plenty of birds living on them and, when we got lucky, a three-toed sloth.
Top Tips and What to Expect
A Tortuguero jungle walk is probably the easiest hike you will experience in Costa Rica. It is also one of the most rewarding. As I said, lots of the hotels either don’t do it or have raised walkways. This means that the entire walk is flat, easy and will be safe from the animals who live in the leaf litter. To put it into perspective, our guide told us to wear flip flops if it was raining to stop our shoes getting wet. This almost seemed like a massive no-no to me, and indeed was in other wildlife hotspots like Arenal and Nosara.
Tortuguero is also likely the first place where travellers go to from San Jose. In terms of temperature and humidity, I really had no idea what to expect. I would say though that walking is really quite difficult. Wear thin clothing that covers you up and plenty of sun cream; the UV levels are high. Also make sure that you have plenty of bug spray (Jungle Formula is best) to stop the mosquitoes.
Tortuguero Jungle Walk – Final Thoughts
The Tortuguero jungle walk was the perfect introduction to Costa Rica. We were able to see all of the animals, but in a safe and easy environment. We also were exposed to the heat, humidity and mosquitoes early on. The following tours (turtles at night, boat tour and Tortuguero village) were easier because of this. If you are able to, make sure that you do this in the National Park. You won’t regret it.
