We did a tour with a guide called jeison hernandez, he was amazing and we learned so much thanks to him. He had a telescope with him so we could see some animals in details. We saw different types of birds, tarentula, aras, frogs .. without him we wouldn’t have seen the real spirit of the forest.

Wonderful park for birding and seeing other animals. #1 guide Maurice Vasquez (contact information in other reviews). Also available for guiding to other outdoor locations. Knowledgeable, energetic, reliable, and kind.

Best with a guide as their experience helps observe things you might easily miss. We experienced the power of ants. Saw a toucan and even a poisonous tree frog. Quite an enjoyable experience.

We had a very enjoyable 4 hour experience in Carara National Park. Contrary to my normal “modus operandi”, where I would usually convince my wife to tour the park ourselves at our own pace, on the morning of our excursion we What’s App’d Maurice ( clearly the most popular local guide based on TA reviews) to see if he could include us. He was very responsive, and an hour later we were wandering the forest trail ( secondary entrance, on the Tarcoles bridge side) guided by Maurice. It was nice he was able to loan us a pair of binoculars and a bird guide book, as we didn’t come as well prepared as we should have. We were surprised at the ability for him to use his high powered scope with our smartphone cameras to get some surprisingly good close up photos. Our tour lasted 2 hours, which was a bit of a surprise to me, given many other reviews suggested a tour duration of 3-4 hours. But, in those two hours we saw much wildlife, and learned much about the parks flora and fauna, so really, hard to complain. Most of what we saw was solely due to Maurice knowing where to look. As an experiment, after our guided tour we went back to the main entrance and wandered on our own for an hour and a half, to see if you can really get much out of the forest experience on your own. If you are observant you can I think; my wife saw several animals we hadn’t encountered on the guided hike, So the moral of the story here is, book a guide if you can, you’ll see far more than if you tour on your own. If you choose not too, it can still be a worthwhile visit.

Really nice park with some great trials to walk through. We didn't see any wildlife in the afternoon so if you want a chance at seeing some animals, I recommend going in the morning. Still a fun experience walking through a beautiful area of Costa Rica. A reasonable price for 1-2 hours.

I met Maurice by chance after I had spent a morning in Carara not finding many birds. Even though I was not on his tour, he immediately asked if I had seen the Manakin lek and led me and his party of two down a path to the lek. Hmm! A nice earthy 'dance floor' but no birds. He didn't seem deterred and proceeded to click his fingers. It wasn't long before an Orange - collared Manakin revealed itself and posed beautifully for my camera. Maurice was obviously pleased that we had seen the bird and was so enthusiastic that I immediately arranged a tour with him for a few days later. I didn't regret it! Maurice managed to locate birds and animals with ease, identifying many by call alone. But not satisfied with this, he would then say what page of the Costa Rica Bird guide book that particular bird featured on. The man is a walking encyclopedia! He was very proficient at mimicking many bird calls and as I had told him that I had not seen a Trogon so far on my holiday, he was determined to spot one for me. When he finally heard one, deep in the jungle, he struck up a 'conversation' with it and proceeded to stalk it through the trees and foliage. Even after he spotted it and told me where it was, it still took me a while to realise that the dark shape motionless on a branch was in fact a Black-throated Trogon. I was in awe at Maurice's ability to spot birds in such dim light and in dense jungle. For Carara, I would highly recommend a guide and you won't get any better than Maurice! Thank you Maurice!

If you’re looking for an exceptional ornithological tour this one is for you. Maurice manages to find the tiniest birds and bats. He is exceptionally knowledgeable about what to find in Carara and also Costa Rica in general. We also signed up for his crocodile river tour. Well worth the extra cost. We highly recommend this.

Excited to get into the forests of Costa Rica we chose to came to Carara National Park right off Rt 34. A huge parking lot greeted us along with polite guides offering their services. We chose the binoculars and self-guided tour instead. Clean restrooms, potable water and tickets with no line ($10). There were several short trails available (~1. 2km each) and within 3 hours of walking we completed all of them: Sendero trail, Quebrada Bonita trail, Las Avaceas and Linear trail. Trails are easy and mostly flat. We heard many birds but saw very few ( canopy is high). It was a nice relaxing experience.

We had an enjoyable and productive wildlife tour of Carara with guide Santi (Santiago). Reach him at (+506) 6080 1247. And when our scheduled ride from Jaco to La Fortuna was cancelled because of engine trouble, a call to Santi quickly led to a replacement ride from his friend Calin (Carlos), who had a bigger van and a lower price than our cancelled ride. Calin is at (+506) 8517 1707 Give both these guys some business. You won't regret it.

My wife and I plus another couple went to Carara National Park and hired Maurice as our tour guide. We were all so impressed with his knowledge, ability to spot animals and then position his scope so we could see the animal. It was a great tour of the park and was not overly crowded with tourists. We saw a bunch of different wildlife including birds, monkeys and white bats!! - all of which Maurice found for us and pointed out to us along with any relevant information. The photos I uploaded were taken by Maurice with my phone that he placed on his scope. We highly recommend Maurice for your tour. To contact Maurice use WhatsApp and his number is +506 8889 6061