When you think of Costa Rica, you might not automatically think of it as a potential “activity” holiday.
But from “superman” and roller coaster zip-lining to white water rafting, this Central American country, bordered by Nicaragua and Panama, offers everything adventurers could want to keep the adrenalin pumping.
The highlight of any adventure-packed holiday has to be the “High Octane Adventure Park Tour” in the Highlands of Las Parcelas de Dumas, which packs 10 activities into what it calls an eight-hour “thrill ride”.
You can mix and match some of them, such as Hummer ride, horseback trek, Tarzan swing, rappelling, zip-lining through a waterfall, and free-falling to water.
Manuel Antonio is home of an integrated zip-line and rollercoaster where participants are able to actually “fly” through the forest.
The ride, called El Avatar, attaches you to an overhead track by a harness, on what is an exhilarating, plunge-packed, bend-whizzing, heart-stopping experience.
The same park, has a canopy “bike”, which offers a more peaceful way to view the surrounding forest. The “bike, an open compartment is attached to a cable and travels along by operating pedals.
Enjoy an on and off-road ATV (all-terrain vehicle) tour, through remote mountains, African palm plantations, rural countryside and local villages and stop for a swim in a waterfall.
Or try a half-day excursion over the rapids of the Naranjo River, or a vigorous two-hour nature hike on Parador’s jungle trail.
Journey down the mangrove estuary in your own kayak which gives you more freedom to venture deeper into the smaller tributaries where larger boats cannot go.
Snorkelling and scuba diving is a must but do pick the best locations, such in the Gulf of Papayagayo, where you might chance upon manta rays, sharks and turtles.
The beaches of Manuel Antonio are world-renowned surfing locations. Rafiki Safar Lodge rafting tour to Savegre River, is a heart-stopping extravaganza on an expanse of water that plunges down through some of the country’s most remote parts and travels through several national parks and protected areas.
Whatever your taste for adventure, Costa Rica will keep you pumped.
