Tamarindo Kayak Estuary Mangrove Tour

We had such an amazing time!! Ivan was our guide. He was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor. We saw all kinds of animals. Based on this tour I would book with them again

We had a great experience on this tour. Our guide was funny and very knowledgeable. We saw crocodiles, monkeys, and lots of birds. Highly recommend doing this tour when in Tamarindo!

Saw single crocodile basking in sun. Guide was below average. Out of 4 of us I liked it but rest my wife and 2 kids didn’t therefore 3 stars

This was fun for a 2 hour trip up & back. Easy paddle in a 2 person kayak. You do stop for a bite of pineapple. Guides do a great job pointing out birds & alligators. We had fun & it was something different to do while in the area.

Renee is the best tour guide ever!! He provided detailed photos of all the local animals and was extremely knowledgeable about the plants and animals! We even got to feed pineapple to raccoons and iguanas! We also saw crocodiles, howler monkeys and various species of birds. He is very funny, speaks good English, and helps you learn Spanish along the way! Renee shared that he does many different kinds of tours (horseback riding, snorkeling, etc.)! We wish we could have booked him for all of our Tamarindo tours!!

We’ve done many kayak tours including in other locations of Costa Rica. We always prefer single kayaks (preserves marital bliss) so we sent 3 messages to the company asking for confirmation once the reservation was made. Never received any answer. Sure enough, once we arrived, none were available. If that’s a make or break for you, go with a different group. The guide blamed it on lack of communication from the company but previous reviews indicate it’s a pattern. The dry season makes it very hot (even in the AM) and the return trip is quite strenuous so if you’re not experienced, a double one makes more sense - or doing one of the easier boat rides. We did see a couple of monkeys, 1 croc, multiple birds and red snapper. The short walk break was supposed to include fresh pineapple and watermelon but he didn’t have a machete. There’s also not much parking so get there at least 15 min early as you may have to hike from a further away lot. All in all, not our fave excursion in CR.

It was fairly windy. Glad we both wore hats with chin straps. Binoculars helpful in spots Sunblock / bug spray Water shoes much better than flip flops Definitely going to get wet. Swimsuit optional We wore shorts and dried quickly. Decent upper body workout with lots of opportunities to rest. Person in back of double kayak does a lot of the work Towel not needed Bring water and your own snacks

Great local knowledge of animals! Spotted monkeys, alligators, and birds! Calm waters and not busy!!

Great activity, good for beginners like myself. Our guide was great as well. Glad we went in the morning, afternoon would be very hot!

Renee was an excellent guide! He was knowledgeable and friendly. Our trip in the mangroves was amazing.

I loved this tour, you do not want to skip out on it! We thought about doing the boats, but we decided for kayaks because we wanted to see up close nature and the flora and fauna that make up Costa Rica. It only takes 2 hours, it is a very fun activity to do in the morning and still have the rest of the day to do more activities! 12/10 recommend! We got picked up from our hotel and straight to the river.

This was so cool….the boats we thought about as well, but seeing everything so close up in the kayaks brought it to life. It was a beautiful day - it is only 2 hours long so very durable! I highly recommend going in the morning. Best time to go before it gets hotter. You will see the flora and fauna of Costa Rica and appreciate all that mangroves do for the world. We did see a crocodile from a distance and monkeys in the tree. 12/10 would recommend!

Jared was great! We toured the estuary—which was quite beautiful—and saw wonderful wildlife. Highly recommended end

We had an amazing kayaking/hiking adventure with Remi. We saw wide range of birds, 2 crocodiles, howler monkeys, racoon, and lots of fish jumping. It was pretty neat seeing an osprey fly down with a fish in its talons! Susan :)

Tour requires a reasonable level of fitness. Good to bring shoes that you can get wet and dirty. Also if you go mid day make sure you have a hat.

Super memorable, the tour guide, Haynor, was informative and interesting. He went out of his way to share as much information about the mangroves. We were able to see a crocodile as the highlight.

Our tour guide was awesome! We saw 5 crocodiles, monkeys, bats, frogs, crabs, birds, iguana just to name a few. We were served bottled water, fresh pineapple and was asked numerous times if we needed a break or anything. Highly recommend, be prepared to work though we went mid-tide so we had a bit of a current and some wind.

We went but the tide was in so we didn’t get to see any alligators. We did see birds, crabs, and Howler monkeys living in the Mangroves and our guide was very knowledgeable. It was quiet and peaceful. Thanks for the tour

Wonderful nature tour! Our tour guide extended our trip with an extra hour. Beautiful, informative, and highly recommended!

Two hours and a bit of kayaking thru the estuary to see many different birds and monkeys. Unfortunately we did not see gators but apparently it is possible. It was good to see and learn about the local nature of the area. It’s an easy kayak at your pace. We had a double kayak and the guide had a single but if you need help I think you can double with them.

You better be in shape. Excellent wild life seen. Bring your sun lotion so you don’t get burned and you will be fine.

If you're lucky enough to have David as your guide, you'll have a great experience. Many bird species, howler monkeys and an alligator we saw on our trip.

Joshua is he best English speaking guide. Very knowledgeable about the wildlife and explained everything well. Solo kayaks would have been better but they were not available

Everything was great. Dayvis was charming and provided us with excellent info about the birds and animals we saw. He offered us options as to how long we wanted to explore so we spent extra time in the mangroves.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. They are simply a 3rd party company who books your trip but has no idea about their guides, their boats, or anything. The guide we had complained about the company and other guides, not with this company, complained too. Apparently, they constantly overbook their tours and there are not enough boats to accommodate everyone. We arrived early and all was fine. Then, when others started showing up the guide said he did not have enough boats. He had no check list of who was to be on the tour. He was doing it all on the fly. He left us waiting for 30 minutes while we thought he was getting more boats. And then as everyone got in the boats he assigned he turned to us and said he couldn't take us. Even though we were first to arrive. Our guide was defensive and rude. It was so disappointing. We wasted an afternoon driving to and from this activity. I complained to the company and asked for a refund. I got one but they don't even control the money side! You have to go through another 3rd party to get it resolved. So much hassle for a trip I booked well in advance. I got repeat reminders form the tour company wanting me to confirm which iIdid every time and yet it made no difference. The guide at the river is the only one that matters. He was also rude to others he was putting in the boats. I rarely if ever write bad reviews that's how bad this was. You are much better off booking locally and skipping this company.

Our guide was very helpful and informative. He went above and beyond to find beautiful but well hidden wildlife locales. He knew their habitats. Our mid trek hike was a success due to his untiring pursuit of the Howler monkey habitat.

Amazing experience with a knowledgeable and passionate guide, Rodolpho. On the 2 hour tour we learnt a lot about how these people work to protect nature and saw crocidiles (even a cute baby one), birds, monkeys and crabs. The water and the trees are beautiful.

I recommend for people who are fit and have kayak experience. Otherwise take the boat tour of the same area. Very happy with my experience. We drove to the meet up location. There is parking available. The guide met us and put us in our kayaks. Not much in the way of instruction or safety briefing. Led us into the estuary. It’s a long route and we’re pretty wiped out by the end. You pretty much see everything on the way out and then just paddle hard against the tide back to the start. All kinds of cool things. A school of fish feeding on the surface surrounding us, crocodiles, monkeys, iguanas. My favorite thing had to be the crabs. Hundreds of colorful crabs. It was hysterical watching them play tug-of-war over pineapple pieces. My only concern was safety issues. We were provided with, but not required to wear, life preservers and they really wasn’t any guidance as to what to do if one of the kayaks tipped over. We were all in pretty good shape, have kayaking experience and didn’t have any problems, but we were all wondering about the safety aspect and how they would they get you back if you became exhausted.

We had so much fun! Loved our tour guide. Didn't see any crocs, but the kayaking was pretty cool. Loved going through the mangroves and all of the birds etc. that we saw.

Finally saw some monkeys! Knowledgeable, friendly guide People on boats doing their tours at the same time would see us looking at something and then pull up and scare things away so that was a bit annoying but nothing our guide could do about that

Alan was an amazing guide. He patiently showed, explained and describes many animals as well as informed us about the national park in La Playa Grande near Tamarindo. Kayaking was fun and easy as well.

Seeing the monkey, different birds etc in their native habitat was very cool. We also saw motor boat tours doing the same thing so if you aren't up for paddling that is an option too. We prefer this way and had a great experience. We did a similar tour in the Grand Cayman and wanted to kids to have this experience. My only feedback would be to give more details about the mangroves and how important they are for the environment in addition to some of the local wildlife stuff. I would recommend this tour.

The guide (Marco) I believe exceeded my expectations. Everyone in my group was in a pair and I was the only solo individual so I rode with the guide. Which was awesome! I was up front and got to see everything first. He was very good at pointing out the trees, the critters, the short walk in the forest was awesome! Good to get out of the blazing heat for a bit saw a ton of monkeys! Highly recommend it’s not difficult to paddle super easy if you aren’t an avid kayaker.

Definitely worth the money and great if you don’t want a tour that is far from Tamarindo. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we saw a lot of animals including monkeys and crocodiles!

Our guide Davies did a great job and was very knowledgable of the flora and fauna. We would have preferred single kayaks instead of double. But overall a nice excursion.

This was a great trip, really enjoyed being on the kayaks. All kayaks were doubles, which we needed because the tide was going out as we paddled into the mangroves. If you are planning to attend with younger children (we were with a 12 year old), check the tides to make sure they are in your favor as it is a lot of paddling! That's the only reason this is 4 instead of 5 stars, it wasn't really clear to us when we booked the trip. On the water we saw lots of birds, crabs, and two crocodiles. We beached the kayaks and walked through the forest to also see more crabs & howler monkeys. The guide was knowledgeable and we especially enjoyed the fresh pineapple before we headed back on the kayaks. All in all - great trip and would recommend!

The kayak trip was incredible. Amazing native jungle thick with mangrove trees. We saw crocodiles and baby crocodiles and a number of bird species. Unfortunately, no monkeys, but they were there the day before. Our tour guide, Davis, was outstanding. He was nice and helpful and had a keen eye for the wildlife. He also gave an additional 30 minutes to the tour.

The tour guide was really nice and excited about nature and the ecosystem! He was knowledgeable about the area and wildlife as well. Kayaking through the area was pretty and we saw a bunch of crabs walking on the roots, some birds (herons and kingfishers to name a couple), and some fish.

This tour was so fun! Our guide was great, very informative and personable. We saw lots of birds and a few other animals. It was a good 2 hours of kayaking though, which is what we were looking for but should definitely be something to think about. Would definitely recommend!!

We participated in three tours in February 2023 (hoping the guide would change) and the below applies to all of them. I shared my feedback in an email with the company a few week ago, but did not get any response. The tours are advertised as bilingual, but our impression was that one is considered quite a pain if you do not speak English. My son (5.5 years) only speaks Spanish and does neither speak nor understand English. On the first tour, he was the only non-English speaker. The guide expected me to translate for him. This was very disappointing for my son who loves to ask questions about animals and who could not understand why in a Spanish-speaking country he could not attend a Spanish-speaking tour. When I asked the guide to summarize in Spanish for my son, he did that a couple of times, but was rather annoyed and towards the end of the tour the summaries became less and less. To be frank, I did not even ask anymore during the other tours. When we checked in at their office for the turtle tour, I confirmed with office staff that we would be dropped off at our hotel after the tour and she confirmed and told me to tell the driver where exactly. When I did that on the way back, the guide told me that he did not know about any drop-offs and that this was not his responsibility since he was not responsible for transport. I did find that quite annoying to be honest since it is indicated in the booking process where you are asked to indicate your accommodation and was confirmed by your office staff. Clear communication would be helpful here. Finally, whereas on all three tours, we saw animals, we unfortunately left quite disappointed. We all felt that the guide was very little engaged while accompanying the tours. Whereas he managed to find animals , he seems to be missing passion and interest in sharing about his country. We felt that his unique objective was to have everyone take the mandatory crocodile picture or turtle nesting video whereas there could be so much more to a tour when a guide is really interested in sharing information about the animals, about the country, about the environment… We did not feel very welcome asking further questions or wanting to engage in a conversation which was unfortunate since this is at least half if not more of a tour experience (and we have met many super dedicated guides all over Costa Rica). His way of managing tours is rather mechanical.

It was really great to paddle through a mature mangrove forest, listening to the birds and spotting wildlife. Our guide was very helpful. We had a double kayak. Make sure you apply lots of sunscreen as these are open kayaks with no shade for your legs!

Our guide did a great job of leading us through the estuary and mangroves. We went in late November, so the weather wasnt great as it rained quite a bit during our tour and made paddling a little tougher than normally would have been. However, our guide was fun and pointed out all sorts of wildlife. We saw numerous breeds of herons, egrets, crabs, osprey, kingfishers, which was pretty amazing considering the weather. Despite the rain, it was still pretty fun, as the rain is just a tropical warm rain and not really uncomfortable. We even saw a crocodile at the very end of the tour. Would recommend !

Equipment was dated, very poor seat for example. No instruction and little information was offered throughout the 2 hours. Simple things like a bag for our phone was not offered.

Had a great experience with our Kayak tour- awesome, friendly tour guides. We also went on a short hike to look for howler monkeys.

Joshua was a fantastic guide! He knew the flora, fauna, and birds and was a ton of fun to hang out with.

Kayaking equipment was well maintained and the guides were professional. We saw a lot of birds and went on a brief hike in the mangrove. The guides provided a pineapple slice and water. The guide was very knowledgeable.

We loved seeing crocodiles, birds and howler monkeys! Our boat captain was very knowledgeable and friendly. The pineapple we ate onboard was sweet and delicious!

This is a wonderful way to see some wild life that you can't see from the beach. A small boat with about 8 seats and a canopy to keep the sun off of you. Our tour guide was a young man about 30 years old. He took us for a tour that lasted about one and a half hours. He was very informative. He knew every bird, tree, plant and animal that we saw. We got out of the boat and walked through the trees to see the monkeys. On our way back he provided fruit and cold water. I would recommend this for all ages

Lovely trip that takes you away from noise and noise. Be prepared that the trip will be physically demanding and you will get dirty and sweaty. On the other hand, there is plenty of wildlife, and beautiful sounds from the forest.