The Safari Float on the Rio Penas Blancas is a great tour for observing wildlife in the Arenal Volcano area. Often referred to as the Monkey Tour, this tour is perfect for anybody that does not want to travel all the way to Cano Negro in search of exotic animals.
The day starts off when you are picked up from your La Fortuna hotel. After all participants are picked up, you will be driven about 20 minutes out of town to the Penas Blancas River. Your guide will provide safety and paddling instructions. Then you'll climb into your inflatable whitewater rafting boat and go for a leisurely paddle downstream in search of wildlife.
This part of the river is rated only Class 1 for easy paddling over light rapids but it flows at a steady speed to push you gently along. The paddles are mostly used for steering to see both sides of the river for a better vantage point to see wildlife.
The Rio Penas Blancas corridor is home to many species of wildlife including howler monkeys, sloths, iguanas, basilisks, turtles, crocodiles, toucans, anhingas, and more. While we cannot guarantee what you see, your guide will point out the wildlife visible on the day of your visit. At some point during the tour snacks will be provided. The take out point is a small rustic ranch owned by a Costa Rican family whom you might meet.
After the tour you will be returned to your hotel. The tour usually lasts 4.5 – 5.5 hours including round trip transfers, though this is subject to change. The tour includes transportation, equipment, guide, and snacks.
The Safari Float on Rio Penas Blancas is available from Arenal, Arenal Zone 2, Arenal Zone 3, Chachagua Rainforest Hotel, and Nuevo Arenal
3 and up
Latitude: N 10° 30' 28.74"
Longitude: W 84° 30' 33.56"
10/07/2024
We loved the float. Our guides were friendly and knowledgeable!
09/30/2024
An absolutely amazing day and float on the river. Orlando had such a fun outgoing personality and made our float so enjoyable!
05/28/2024
Our guide left us on the boat, and went into the jungle to find a poison tree frog that someone on our boat wanted to see. It was awesome!!
11/09/2023
Excellent tour!
07/28/2023
Very enjoyable trip; wonderful guide; fun chocolate event at the end.
06/29/2023
Awesome tour with amazing guide. We loved Saul!
06/28/2023
All went off smoothly and we had a great experience.
06/26/2023
So this is a lovely tour but it is about a 1/2 hour too long. Your butt starts to hurt sitting for so long on the raft. It also gets very hot. You do see a lot of animals but you can't walk around to see them because you are in the raft. The guides were amazing and the little chocolate experience at the end is a great surprise. We loved it. It just would have been better if it were a 1/2 hour shorter. It's hot out there. That said, the guides were great!
06/23/2023
We saw a lot of wildlife that we really enjoyed on this trip. This was perfect for our less thrill seeking family! Absolutely gorgeous and calm! The snack afterward (tortilla, cheese, and plantains) was so delicious and the chocolate informational demonstration and tasting was great.
06/18/2023
This was one of our favorite tours! The guide, Bryan, was great! We saw lots of animals and learned a lot about Costa Rica!
05/09/2023
Guide was great at finding wildlife. Pickup was too early for having time to get breakfast
04/30/2023
Fun tour with chocolate tour a surprise add on
04/09/2023
Great tour, beautifully managed
Loved the snack at the end
Bonus info on chocolate-making and a sip of chocolate was an unexpected bonus
03/28/2023
Loved our guide. Knowledgeable and ethical.
03/06/2023
This tour was a wonderful surprise! I had no idea that we would have a chocolate tasting afterwards. This was a great day. Only problem was a little bit of difficulty communicating with our guide. I think he was new.
02/06/2023
Wonderful tour. The staff was excellent and informative
01/12/2023
Did this tour before...always enjoyable!
12/18/2022
Fantastic tour, we all really enjoyed it. The guides were great, pointing out wildlife and taking videos and pictures for us. After the float, we were able to enjoy some snacks and see how chocolate was made, as well as press some sugarcane. This was unexpected addition that the kids really enjoyed!
12/04/2022
This was a lot of fun, and the guides made the trip even better. An excellent experience.
11/05/2022
Fabri was a fantastic guide. With a great sense of humor. Made it so much fun.
08/29/2022
Guide was great. Our favorite experience while in Arenal.
08/24/2022
Probably the best tour we went on during the entire trip. Knowledgeable and friendly guides and we saw lots of wildlife (including crocodiles, howler monkeys, lots of birds and lizards, and even a tayra).
08/18/2022
Our role guide was so knowledgeable and friendly! The whole group (ages 4 yo to 71 yo) all loved it.
07/16/2022
Guide Carlos was amazing, did very well with the children and very informative of history, culture, and ways to keep Costa Rica eco friendly. lunch/snack was an amazing experience and surprise. My family really enjoyed it.
07/12/2022
Carlos was our guide! He was great and very knowledgeable of the area. He was very friendly and we really enjoyed the trip.
04/25/2022
Enjoyed this more than I expected! The snack and Costa Rican moonshine at the end was a great experience too!
04/10/2022
Our guide was very knowledgeable and charming.
03/10/2022
Great guide we really both enjoyed it.
03/02/2022
Exceeded our expectation. Guide was awesome - spotted several animals and plants. Very friendly and spoke good English
02/22/2022
A nice float down the shaded river. Spotted howler monkeys, crocodiles, and many birds. We had a light lunch and a shot of "moonshine" after the trek.
02/19/2022
Happily surprised by the coffee, sugar, chocolate demo/tasting plus lunch!
01/13/2022
Amazing tour, guide was knowledgeable and social, and our snack after was great!
01/04/2022
Very nice, despite rain in the beginning. The refreshments at the end were an excellent touch
12/17/2021
Loved the float! We had a great guide and saw lots o creatures. The lunch at the end was a nice experience too.
11/26/2021
Had a great time. Always impressed by the guides ability to spot wildlife.
11/03/2021
They were great and even fed us lunch, which we didn’t expect! And it was DELICIOUS!
10/30/2021
We did see some crocodiles, bats, monkeys, otters. There were bats in the bathroom which was kind of scary, but I guess that's the rainforest! This is a nice, slow trip. ?.
08/11/2021
We were originally booked for a kayak trip, but the water was to high to be safe so switched to a raft. We were very glad to have PTW step in to handle this.
08/08/2021
This was the most amazing experience! Hands down one of the best parts of our trip. We saw alligators, monkeys, many birds, bats, many kinds of iguanas, and many beautiful plants. Our guide was absolutely wonderful. The meal at the end was a wonderful experience. Absolutely the best!
08/06/2021
We wanted to do this activity for the sake of our younger child who was too afraid to try out white water rafting. This fit the bill. It was a ride down a nice river, where the guide pointed out wildlife. We saw so many birds, some monkeys, and even crocodiles. It was hard to see though so don't forget your glasses like I did, and bring binoculars if you have them. The guide was able to turn our boat around to get a better glimpse of the wildlife because you can easily miss it. We had paddles to help him when needed, but it wasn't a lot, so we weren't tired afterwards (except from the sun - it was hot!).
The guide and driver were really wonderful. Can't say enough about them - I think his name was Marco and the driver was Jorge. My family of 4 went with a family of 3 and Marco. Even though the other family spoke Spanish and we spoke English, the guide was able to speak to both of us easily.
What was surprisingly fun was where we ended up after the rafting. We had a nice snack (plantains, cheese tortillas), and got to learn a little bit about sugarcane, cacao and coffee production. We had yummy coffee, hot cocoa and sugarcane drinks! They had friendly ducks and a rooster that my kids loved.
07/19/2021
It was a great tour. We had a lot of fun!
02/27/2020
Our tour guide was excellent!
02/14/2020
Our tour ended up being just my husband and I so the individual attention was fantastic! Our guide spotted a boa constrictor in a tree right above my head! He took some great pictures of a horned owl through our binocular lens with my phone.
02/10/2020
Amazing tour! Had such friendly guides, the day ended up being super nice and we saw pretty much every animal we could including a crocodile and a sloth!
02/09/2020
The guides were excellent, we were able to see lots of birds, monkeys, sloths, and a crocodile. The food and chocolate at the end was very good.
01/31/2020
This was awesome. Our boat guide, Frank was great, very knowledgable about the environment. Saw two families of Howler Monkeys, crocodiles, Tucans, slothes, and many other birds.
01/18/2020
Exceeded expectations in all respects! Fauricio and Jorje were excellent hosts/guides and the little snack at the end was wonderful.
01/01/2020
so uh fun!!
11/30/2019
This was a great tour both in terms of what we saw, the background information and the "farm" and snacks at the end.
11/07/2019
We were the only people on our safari float and we loved the trip down the river. We saw many animals, birds, a snake and crocodiles. It was fun to paddle and hear our guide tell us about nature and the wildlife. Our coffee and food at the end of the trip were delicious and the people were gracious hosts.
10/04/2019
Again not a lot of wildlife. Paddling on the river was fun and the food after and demonstration was well done.
07/30/2019
Best tour. We said we liked wildlife in natural habitat and this was perfect. Guides excellent as well.
07/18/2019
El clima no fue tan favorable pero aún así una gran experiencia.
07/15/2019
Our guide was amazing. We saw so much wildlife and learned sbout Costa Rica!!
07/14/2019
The guide as really great and knowledgeable. We saw lots of wildlife too.
07/13/2019
Really great tour guides and lovely people who provided snack as well. Was a great adventure. Perfect weather, lots of animals. Lots of fun.
07/07/2019
We really loved this as a start to our holiday. It was peaceful and the guides were great at spotting wildlife and knew their birds. Also, the driver stopped to show us a sloth on the way back which was one of our best sightings throughout the trip.
07/03/2019
Funny and knowledgeable guides. Delicious food stip
06/30/2019
Wonderful guide he found up otters, crocodiles a sloth, monkey and a toucan bird. Highly recommend
06/26/2019
The guide was amazing! He was able to point out wildlife that we wouldn't have otherwise seen and was able to identify everything we saw.
06/06/2019
What a special experience, rafting in a good rainstorm. Our guide knew so much, and even held an hilarious conversation with a howler monkey. The farm at the end is incredibly charming - with delicious food and drink.
05/09/2019
I did not go .
05/05/2019
Again the guide was friendly,funny and really tried to find all the wildlife he could find for us to enjoy!
04/18/2019
Guides were great! Probably for people under the age of 60, as you get very stiff sitting in a cramped position for 3 hours.
03/26/2019
We got really lucky with the weather and saw so much wildlife. We also really enjoyed the 'snack' at the end!
03/05/2019
Great tour guides, we enjoyed this trip. One funny thing happened was the van would not start again after arriving at our destination but it was more funny than a problem. They ended up fixing the van by the time we needed to be picked up at the end of our tour.
02/12/2019
Everything went as planned, but we did not see that much wildlife on the trip so it got a little boring.
02/08/2019
We really enjoyed the river float. Our guide was very knowledgeable and shared a lot of information with us. We saw a lot of wildlife. The only negative was we found the total length of the tour too long. The tour could have been wrapped up sooner. Maybe less time eating the snack and trying to get everyone organized into the vans or cut out the stop at the Iguana bridge. Then we had a long drive back to our hotel. It really dragged on once the river float itself was over. We were also probably anxious to get back since it was our last day and there were other things we wanted to see!
02/06/2019
Jonathan went above and beyond and made this experience wonderful because he took the time (and considerable energy) to point out the sites and animals and explain the history and biology of the surroundings.
02/03/2019
A fun paddle down the river which was a little low in February.
Some wildlife but less than we were expecting.
01/28/2019
Our guide had to pump up the seats of our boat before we started and they lost air as we floated. We sat on the edge of the boat. Saw some bats, alligators, monkeys and iguanas. Our guide, "Marcus" was amazing. What an interesting soul. He was a top notch rower, full of interesting information and a joy to be around. I give kudos and recommendations to Marcus. He made the trip fun and interesting for us. The meal at the end was a nice touch.
01/25/2019
Absolutely loved this trip. And again our guide Steven was the best!!!!
01/23/2019
Great guide. Enjoyed the wildlife.
01/17/2019
Excellent in every way.
01/14/2019
Our guide was very knowledgeable and went out of his way to get us to see the animals we wanted to see. An excellent experience.
01/11/2019
The hosts did a wonderful job with the lunch. Well done!!! Home style tortillas and drinks!!! Beautiful surroundings too. Bravo!
12/31/2018
Fun but wouldn't do this one again.
12/23/2018
Our guide was wonderful. He stopped whenever something was interesting and explained all about the river and the wildlife. He answered all questions.
12/18/2018
Guides were good. Tour was enjoyable.
12/14/2018
Joe was great as a guide. I was a little disappointed in the "farm visit". I had read reviews and most had said that was the highlight and it was why we chose this tour but there no farm tour just a brief explanation of how cocoa is made. The snacks and drinks were very nice but I would have loved to see more of the actual farm operation...I thought we were supposed to see sugar cane press etc.
12/07/2018
Again we had a great guide. We saw monkeys and birds. Nice refreshments at the end of the tour as well.
12/01/2018
Absolutely relaxing experience - exactly what I needed at that time. We saw a lot more things up close than I thought.
11/15/2018
Our guide was awesome. Hoped to see more animals but you can never control those things!
11/12/2018
the friendly guides were great animal spotters! very fun and relaxing ride with a lovely breakfast treat at the end.
08/21/2018
Loved this tour as well and the guides were fantastic.
08/14/2018
Exceeded our expectations. The tour ended with a visit with a local family, lunch, and grinding our own hot chocolate, which was an unexpected highlight.
12/12/2017
The farm experience was wonderful. More cultural experiences in some other tours would be good.
12/03/2017
Sleeper tour. I bet a lot of people don't take this tour because it seems less exciting, but we saw so much and the guides, wildlife, and visit to the farm were all top notch.
11/17/2017
Excellent guide
07/13/2017
Great tour. We all had a lovely time!
07/01/2017
It would have been nice to see more wild life
06/19/2017
It was ok
06/17/2017
The guide was extremely knowledgeable and you could tell that he loved what he did. Thoroughly enjoyed the float trip, and the other passengers. Great experience.
04/29/2017
Great tour. High point was visiting a working farm.
04/03/2017
Our guide was amazing! Scenery beautiful. Really nice to visit the local family for coffee and treat.
03/18/2017
The tour went above my expectations because I didn't even know that a light lunch was included. I wished the guides talked more about the development of Costa Rica. I was disappointed that I didn't see any sloths or toucans, but I still had a blast on the safari and felt safe the entire time.
03/15/2017
We loved this great float down the river. Just exciting enough for Max. The visit to the plantation was exceptional.
02/27/2017
Lovely. Really enjoyed visit to Don Pedro Finca
02/02/2017
Jorge was our guide...he was amazing at his job and does it with a passion for people, his country , nature and his guests. He was charming, funny and informative. Not sure how he managed to spot all the wildlife that he did. We got to see monkeys, crocs, snakes, bats, basilik, tons of different birds. I recommend this tour 1 00%.
12/29/2016
Limited wildlife.
12/25/2016
Was hoping for more wildlife. Kinda boring.
12/23/2016
This was the highlight of the trip for me. Great guides, great stop along the way with the best cup of coffee in CR
12/19/2016
our guide was fantastic!
12/06/2016
Mario and the two guides he had along for training we geeatbwe had such a wonderful time seeing all the nature in Costa Rica the family that we visited along the trip was awesome
11/26/2016
I only rated this lower because we had already seen a bunch of the wildlife so it wasn't as "exciting" as if this was done earlier in our trip. Our guides were good, not great.
11/14/2016
One of the best experiences of the trip, and I loved seeing the farmhouse and meeting the family.
07/29/2016
We appreciated the visit to Pedro's Farm.
07/08/2016
I would recommend this to all! A really nice morning on the boat, the guides Stephen and Jorge 1 and 2 were fun and informative and I loved the stop we made at Do Pedro's place. A nice look into culture living history!
07/03/2016
The guides were great they went out of their way to make sure the little ones were involved even making grass woven animals for them at our stop for a break
06/06/2016
This excursion was amazing. Our guide and driver Pablo and Pedro were both great. The guide was so excited about the entire trip and we saw lots of animals, which got him just as excited as we were. He truly enjoyed his job. He stopped at one point and my son did the nintendo 5 with him (swung from a rope into the river) and the stop at the farm was very nice. We enjoyed the farmers stories although Pablo needed to interpret them for us. His family was very kind and their treats were very tasty.
05/02/2016
Again.........Excellent. Farm stop was awesome.
04/24/2016
Pedro was our guide. Best guide on our whole trip. His enthusiasm and good humor was infectious. Just outstanding. He should work for the tourist ministry!
04/10/2016
seating was not comfortible for people in their 60's- limited scenery
04/03/2016
This tour is nice for people who want mellow. It was nice to see the wildlife and float on the river. It seemed about 30 minutes too long but it could have been because of the heat!
03/31/2016
not much wildlife readily seen. lunch at the residence was a fabulous, especially the host.
03/27/2016
loved stop at family farm
03/22/2016
We weren't sure what to expect. It was an enjoyable outing, but we didn't see much for animals. The guides were great though in trying to get them to come out. There was nothing really memorable about this outing, but we did really enjoy the coffee break stop at the farm. That was really neat and I hope it stays a part of the experience:)
03/15/2016
Not a fault of the tour but we were grouped with an annoying family and was a bit long and uncomfortable
02/24/2016
The Guide was great. He was humorous, knowledgeable and a great personality. He made the trip a highlight of our visit to Costa Rica.
02/22/2016
Lovely guide, his English a little hard to understand, but his enthusiasm couldn't be beat. Loved the stop over at the farm. Trip was a little too placid for us (our choice!)
02/20/2016
We saw some interesting wildlife on this trip. The guides were very good and did their best to show us the wildlife. The guide who spoke on the bus was humorous and personable. Stopping at the farm towards the end of the trip was a nice touch.
02/19/2016
didn't see any animals but stopping at the Farm was very special. it was nice that our family was in 1 boat together.
02/18/2016
Very nice, loved the guide and the side trip visiting real folks that live in the area.
02/02/2016
Enjoyed both the float on the river and stopping at a local farm for a snack. Very pleasant tour guide and again very informative.
01/30/2016
We were okay, but some of the people had a bit of a scramble to get up the slopes. Perhaps a prior warning would help. Guides were great and we really liked the short stop at the farm
01/20/2016
so relaxing, highlight is the stop for coffee break at Don Pedro's farm, amazing opportunity
01/18/2016
We all loved this excursion and loved Edson's knowledge and enthusiasm for his job! This float was wonderful!
12/26/2015
awesome tour guide and trip
12/17/2015
Great experience. Our guide Gabrielle, was fantastic. He was knowledgeable, funny, friendly, and very professional. We loved the stop at Peter's Farm. What an all around terrific time.
11/04/2015
This was a fun trip and visiting the farm there was interesting. We didn't see anything that we had not already seen but still enjoyed the float. Our guides were quite good and made it fun.
08/07/2015
Very nice experience. The guide (Gabriel?) was very knowledgeable and available to stop and spot animals along the way. Very interesting the stop by the locals house!
07/30/2015
Pablo our guide was FANTASTIC. we saw so many creatures It was a good time
07/26/2015
we really enjoyed the safari and managed to see a few animals.
07/23/2015
Absolutely fabulous experience, terrific guides (Gabriel and Pablo).
07/14/2015
Tour guide was really good!! Had a nice experience at people the Costa Rican Family we visited.
06/04/2015
Steven's english was the best of the whole trip. He was also very funny and knowledgeable. It was great fun having him get the howler monkeys to howl for us.
04/06/2015
This was fun, but not my favorite.
03/22/2015
Our guide was excellent! Really enjoyed it. Did want to see a bit more wildlife, but the farm tour was a wonderful surprise! Really did enjoy this!
02/22/2015
Fantastic. Wish it had gone on longer.
02/16/2015
The best ever.....
02/12/2015
Lots of fun with great guide.
01/30/2015
A great way to observe nature and have lunch with "locals"! Jorge, our guide, was very knowledgeable and made our morning fun.
01/20/2015
The folks on this tour showed their concern for client safety. The driver and guide were wonderful! When they took us to the designated location on the Rio Penas Blancas and discovered the water level was too high, they offered us an even more expensive tour -- lunch included-- and took us on the Cano Negro. The trip was a bit longer than expected, but we saw lots of wildlife. Please thank everyone for being so wonderful and accommodating to us.
12/23/2014
The guides were especially helpful in spotting animals.