Night Walk with Papa's Place

We did our night tour at Papa's Place with the fantastic David as our guide. Initially it was a little nerve-wracking heading into the jungle at night however David led the way and explained all of the actions needed to avoid any accidents. The area of jungle around Papa's place had a path and the pace was nice and slow whilst David explained all of the amazing sightings that he/we found. The walk was not strenuous apart from a few easy steps and it gave an amazing snapshot of nocturnal jungle life. We absolutely loved it

This was probably my boys’ favorite activity in Costa Rica. We met our guide Inderia on a lightly rainy night. She gave us flashlights and off we went to find frogs, bugs, snakes, and a sloth. The rain brought out so many frogs and we even got to see 2 fer-de-lance pit vipers. So many interesting things to see and the rainforest is so different at night. I highly recommend this tour. We liked Papa’s Place so much we went back a few days later for the morning bird tour.

Our night tour with David was a highlight of our trip to La Fortuna. My husband and I scheduled the 7:00pm tour on a Monday night in late September. Around 4:00pm, a storm rolled in with lightning and thunder - it rained too but not crazy hard. When we left our hotel around 6:35 it was raining lightly and still stormy. When we arrived David was waiting outside and greeted us with flashlights and an introduction re: what to expect on the walk. We were the only ones who’d signed up for the 7pm slot so we got a private tour! He asked if there was anything we wanted to see and anything that we did NOT want to see, which was nice because I have an irrational fear of moths that renders me incapable of behaving like a normal person in the event I come across one. We began our walk and David immediately found a tiny little bird curled up under a leaf in a bush and pointed his tripod telescope at it so we could see. Throughout the tour we found so many different types of frogs, toads, lizards, and towards the end a PIT VIPER curled up on the edge of the path, which was thrilling. It was raining off and on but didn’t affect us in the slightest. Definitely want to wear long pants and long sleeves (light rain jacket would be perfect). David took all the photos for us using my husband’s iPhone, and shared facts about every single animal we found. He was funny, smart, and has been a tour guide for almost 10 years, so we felt very quickly that we were in good hands. The pics he took are seriously National Geographic level. Such a cool experience! You should absolutely book with Papa’s Place. Thanks so much David!!

+4

I can’t say enough good things about Papa’s Place! It was critical for my partner and I to make sure any nature activities we did were ethical, and that’s how we found Papa’s Place. We booked their day time sloth tour at 7 am and were guided around La Fortuna by Ignacio, who was informative, friendly, and excellent at finding sloths. We greatly appreciated the magnifying scope and phone attachment to better view the sloths and take pictures of them. While we saw many sloths, the most important part to us was that we saw them in their natural, wild habitat and not in a confined area like other places in La Fortuna that confine the sloths to guarantee that you’ll see them. We were so delighted by the sloth tour that we booked their night tour for the same night at 7 pm. We were guided by Victor, who was a wealth of knowledge as he is a biologist and has been a guide for over a decade. With Victor we saw countless frogs, a snake, and lizards. He even went out of his way to provide us with suggested directions after finding out where we were driving next on our Costa Rica trip. If you’re looking for ethical nature experiences with knowledgeable guides and smaller groups, look no further than Papa’s Place!

Our night walk was easily one of the coolest experiences of our trip to Costa Rica! We saw an incredible amount of wildlife - so many different frogs, including the gorgeous red-eyed tree frogs, a snake, spiders, and tons of other little creatures we never would have spotted on our own. We were even lucky enough to see a kinkajou! Valeria was absolutely fantastic. She was incredibly knowledgeable and seemed to know exactly where and what to look for, but she was also so warm and personable. She explained what we were seeing in a way that was genuinely interesting and engaging, and we learned so much without it ever feeling like a lecture. You could tell how much she knows and cares about the wildlife and ecosystem. Walking through the rainforest at night was already such a cool experience, but having Valeria as our guide made it that much better. Between the sheer amount of wildlife we saw and how much fun we had with her, this ended up being one of our favorite activities of the entire trip. If you’re considering a night walk in La Fortuna, absolutely do it - and if you can go with Valeria, even better. We had an amazing time and would recommend her and Papa's Place in a heartbeat. Pura vida! ❤️

+6

Indi was an awesome guide. Extremely knowledgeable and was able to find lots of cool things for us to see. Totally different world in the dark

Will was the best tour guide we’ve had on our trip so far! Very knowledgeable and made a point to look for the animals we were interested in and answer any questions we had. During our two hour night tour, we found two fer de lances, many MANY tree frogs, some cool lizards and more. The rain did not let up, but that did not stop the experience from being fun and exciting (or stop the animals from coming out). Will also shielded our cameras with his umbrella to help us take pictures of the animals in the rain. I can’t recommend this tour enough!

We have no words to describe how incredible and special our night hike was. The place is spectacular, but what made it unforgettable was the work of our two guides, Andrés and Álex. Two very good people and great professionals who gave their all to show us all the animals in the area: frogs, fer-de-lance, coral snake, bullet ants, and other fauna. They were concerned that we get the best photo and that with their telescope we could see everything in the smallest detail. Incredible human and professional quality from Andrés and Álex. Without a doubt, they have been the best guides we have encountered in our long life of traveling. From Barcelona, Àngels and Javier.

Nei was amazing! What a great fun night where we saw, frogs, lizards, monkeys, and sloths! Nei was funny, charming and so intelligible about all the species and even the plants. Over the air bnb booking we had some trouble with directions but once we figured out the right address everything was great. Thanks Nei and Papas Place!

It was the best night hike we did in Costa Rica. We thought the place was beautiful and we were able to see many frogs, a terciopelo snake, birds sleeping on branches, spiders, among other animals... David, our guide, was very professional at all times and I felt very safe by his side, considering that snakes don't really appeal to me. A completely recommendable experience!!!