The Palo Verde National Park tour is a bird watcher’s paradise! Considered to be one of the most important wetlands in the world, this nature reserve with its seasonal flooding contains an abundance of migratory and native birds species alike. On this tour, you’ll journey down the Tempisque River on a covered sightseeing boat searching out a variety of wetland wildlife.
Your trip will begin when you are picked up from your hotel and taken for a leisurely drive in air-conditioned vans through farmlands and small villages until you reach the national park. Upon arrival, your bilingual guide will introduce you to the park and lead you to the river’s edge where you will step onboard a covered boat with open sides allowing you to fully appreciate your surroundings.
The biggest attraction of Palo Verde National Park is birdwatching. If you are a birder you will likely tick off many bird species on your list. But you can also enjoy this cruise just for the thrill of being out on the water and seeing the amazing diversity of tropical wildlife. Your knowledgeable nature guide will help you identify many colorful birds as well as spot other river dwelling creatures.
One of the most popular birdwatching places is right in the middle of the Tempisque River. “Bird Island” known locally as “Isla de Pajaros” is the main nesting grounds and resting place for birds of many different species. During your approach to Bird Island keep your eyes open for Roseate Spoonbills, Green-backed Herons, Great Egrets, Wood Storks, Anhingas, and Black-crowned Night-Herons. Where there is a large concentration of birds, there may also be a crocodile or two lingering around the area waiting for an opportunity to seize a good meal!
In the rainy seasons, this river gets so full that the water overflows the riverbed, expanding into marshes providing ideal environments for migratory wading birds seeking temporary refuge from the cold winter months up north.
While during the dry seasons, the river does just the opposite: water becomes so scarce that the marshes dry up into small pools and puddles, with dwindling reserves of water for both flora and fauna. Luckily, this reinforces the natural migration of visiting birds to fly back home, allowing the native birds and other wildlife to flourish with little competition for local resources. This provides an excellent opportunity to see a concentration of wildlife congregating around the limited water sources.
Another interesting dry season phenomenon is that the trees on this Palo Verde tour lose their leaves during certain seasons as a way to preserve water. At these times viewing the dry forests may remind you of a crisp autumn day, with barren trees and colorful fallen leaves - only in a much hotter and dryer climate. With fewer leaves on the trees you’ll have a greater chance for spotting birds, iguanas, and other dry forest creatures.
Your guide will help you see any visible wildlife while leisurely exploring the shoreline. You might see Howler or Capuchin Monkeys, Variegated Squirrels, a Collared Peccary or a White-nosed Coati. Additional birdlife typically seen within the park include the White Ibis, Snail Kite, American Widgeon and Northern Shoveler, to name a few.
This tour includes a professional bilingual nature guide, park entrance fee, boat tour, drinks and transportation from Flamingo, Riu, Tamarindo and the Papagayo area. One way transportation by air conditioned bus can take between 1 and 2 hours from your hotel to the National Park depending upon your pick-up location. Combined time of this tour with round trip transportation can take between 5.5 and 7.5 hours. You will likely be most comfortable wearing lightweight clothing plus bring rain gear in the rainy seasons. It is also recommended to bring sun screen, insect repellent, camera and binoculars for up close viewing.
The Palo Verde National Park and Lunch is available from Central Guanacaste, Jobo, Papagayo Peninsula, Playa Hermosa, Coco, Southern Papagayo, and Tamarindo
Latitude: N 10° 19' 14.38"
Longitude: W 85° 18' 40.47"
03/10/2023
This was my least favorite tour. A very long drive, logistically challenging as we had to drop off and pick up people from all over. Since we were last, our drive was much longer than it had to be. Also, I had no idea we were on a riverboat for the tour, but that was a nice surprise. Lunch was great- wish we had a little bit more time to spend at the ranch to look around. We also went to a pottery demonstration which was just ok. I feel like this tour was too long and too much driving for what we got to see. The guide was great though!
02/08/2023
First, we had proposed this tour, not PTW, based on some recommendation. In the end it involved way too much van travel time for s short boat ride on a muddy river. We did see some wildlife, but we also made an additional unscheduled stop, and overall the tour was 1.5 hours longer than the 7 hours specified
11/16/2022
We were fortunate to have Bryan again! Job well done. He was great! 5 star reviews.
Our eagle eye boat driver, Warner, was also amazing. We saw incredible birds and animals
08/01/2022
Another great tour guide! It was a lengthy drive and they definitely made it feel like just part of the tour, taking us through rural areas and discussing more about the history of the area. We also loved the farm where we had lunch, felt like the most "authentic" Costa Rican experience we had from meeting locals and learning the history of the region.
03/05/2020
Excellent from start to finish
01/20/2020
Loved it!
01/01/2020
excellent punctual guide; and perfect length of time for kids
we saw enough wild life and really enjoyed the lunch at farm;
11/28/2019
Good tour especially for parent who had some mobility issues. Guides were knowledgeable and respectful.
10/20/2019
Amazing tour guide
09/25/2019
Roderick and Walter made this tour so much fun!
05/25/2019
fix the road would not go again until road repaired
11/12/2015
Second best activity of the trip the guide was fun as was the driver. I could have spent another 3 hours on the river!
08/13/2015
Nice!!