Canyoning Costa Rica

Costa Rica

31 July

Written By Ayesha

This blog is about our canyoning adventure down a river in the middle of the rain forest, one of the coolest activities we have done on this trip. I was tasked to be the organiser of this activity, so when we stayed in La Fortuna (a well-known rainforest area in Costa Rica) I reached out to quite a few different canyoning companies. I landed on Maquique Adventure, partly because they were very responsive and friendly. They seemed to offer good value for money. Some companies I tried to reach out to just never responded and a lot of places charged you a lot of money for very little value, for example $20, - per person, to walk in a small very-basic nature park

On the day of our canyoning adventure, we arrived at the specified location, we got in a van, and they drove us up to the top of the hill where they kitted us up with an abseiling harness, gloves and a helmet, and off into the jungle we went.

The way this canyoning works is you are harnessed-up and work your way down the river - including waist-deep in the water at times; by abseiling (also called rappelling) and zip lining through a steep jungle-clad valley – so steep, the only way out is to keep going down – no turning back! . The whole activity takes about two hours to do.

I am not the world’s biggest hero, so I was scared but, in the end, I had so much fun. To be honest, the first and last of the five abseil descents were the scariest. The first one because I was really just getting to know how it all works and hoping I would not fall off the side of the cliff. Of course, I know there are safety mechanisms, but it is still pretty scary. The idea in your head that if you let, go of the rope you are plummeting to the bottom of the cliff and turn into a pancake. Okay okay I know that is a little bit dramatic, but it feels like that. We started with a “small” rappel on a 20-metre drop without a rockface (free-swinging in the air)! The last canyon was terrifying because it was a 60-metre waterfall, and you don’t realise how high it is until you are dangling above it and the only way to go is down.

As I mentioned above, this specific activity did not only have rappelling but the course also had zip lines. There were five rappels three of which descended through waterfalls with drops ranging from 20 to 60 metres (we were literally dangling from the rope inside the falling water).

We had some simple training how to rappel as you can control your speed and by using your body and legs cleverly, you can prevent yourself from slamming into the rock face on some occasions. During the course there were three zip lines, this is another mechanism and all you have to do is “fly”.

One of the three zip lines was a short descent on a very steep angle straight into a pool of water, which we all tried to make a big splash in. We also had some manual walking through the jungle river to do clambering over rocks, during one of these small walks we got to jump from a rock into the river.

The guides were absolutely amazing, and we had a fantastic time. It was so much fun to be in the dense jungle doing an activity like this, we even ziplined all the way back to equipment building where we started. It was very well done.

Tico Soda – a typical Lunch

As part of this tour, they even provided a traditional Costa Rican lunch afterwards, which we inhaled because activities like that make you extremely hungry. This traditional (tica) lunch called Soda was the best we have had since arriving here and we have tried quite a few. A typical Tica / Tico Soda has rice, beans, a tasty but watery curry, vegetables, salad, a baked banana and meat, cheese or equivalent protein. This tour company also had a kitchen in which they taught local cooking lessons, we just ate but it was amazing.

For me this was one of my most favourite activities on this world trip so far. Its main competition for the highlight so far was when we went white water rafting in el Rio Mendosa (see my blog from 29/1/25 called Three days of adventures in Mendoza).

Value for Money

I have to add a little bit of analysis about this outing as it was one of the activities I organised from beginning to end as I am slowly picking up more complex adult skills. Overall, I am very proud of my selection and happy with the result. Besides the great experience rappelling, there was another thing we were happy and surprised about. The company provide photos from the activity for no additional fee!

When we got back to the office where they unharness you, they called us over and said here’s a link your photos that will be available by tomorrow. We just stood there for a second and asked how much extra do we need to pay for them? They said it’s a free inclusion on your ticket. Most organisations we would expect to use this opportunity to try and gain an extra quick-buck, playing on emotions of people whose adrenaline is still high – so this was very refreshing.

We honestly really appreciated the kindness and care they showed us. We really felt like it was worth every penny. Unlike other operators, they did not ask us to give them a good review either, so add that to no extra charge extra for photos or lunch left us with a really good taste in our mouths. Some places leave you feeling like they think you are just a cash dispenser made of money. Accordingly, I did write them a very good review, and I can only speak positively about them, if you are ever in Costa Rica do check them out (Maquique Adventure).

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the photos of us swinging through the jungle.