Day Hike

One very fruitfull experience is a hike through the primary forest along the coast. All the animals on the Peninsula can be found here. Even the shy puma can come here for prey. Since every day is different, we'll pick a well-written review from Leane on Tripadvisor to give you an example:

San Pedrillo ranger station - Wildlife and waterfalls

Our guide Randall picked us up from La Paloma Lodge in the morning and immediately started with fascinating background information about La Paloma and the animals and plants that live on the grounds. He escorted us down to the boat, where we headed off to the San Pedrillo ranger station in Corcovado National Park. He told us about the marine life along the way and gave us information about the area and what Costa Rica is doing to preserve the wilderness. After an easy wet landing, we took the last opportunity to use a restroom while Randall checked us in at the ranger station. Then we crossed a shallow but fast-running freshwater stream, changed into our hiking boots, and headed and into the trees. During out ~3 hour hike, we saw sloths, agouti, lots of jesus lizards, long-nosed bats in a strangler fig, capuchins, a black hawk, squirrel monkeys, and howler monkeys. It had been raining recently so the ground was muddy and there were some large unavoidable puddles, but the footing was generally very good and the hiking was not very difficult. We learned a ton about the plants and animals (and people) in the area and got some great photos. We saw very few people, but we did run into Hans, one of the Pirate Cove SCUBA dive masters, who showed us where to find an arboreal anteater in the trees near the beach.

We stopped back at the ranger station for lunch, a staggering amount of food packed for us by La Paloma that was luckily shared with the rangers when we were done.

Then it was time for the trek to the waterfalls. We didn’t really need hiking boots for this; our closed-toe water shoes were just fine. The ground was still a little muddy and there’s a lot of climbing one and over rocks and roots, but the trails were pretty clear. We saw more sloths and monkeys along the way to a pretty spectacular series of one large and two smaller waterfalls at the end of the trail. We had that are mostly to ourselves - a small bridge had washed out and we had to ford a very easy stream to get there, but that had somehow deterred most of the other tours out that day. Randall got us across all the streams without incident, even one I was nervous about right before the last waterfall. (I really wished I’d had my trekking poles, but they’re not allowed in carry-ons these days…). After a little photo/video session, we headed back to the swimming waterfall, where we swam and let the pounding water loosen up any tense hiking muscles while capuchins scampered through the trees overhead. It was ridiculously great; one of those moments that just makes you feel insanely lucky and privileged. Swimming in a waterfall in Costa Rica while monkeys chatter above you. Seriously? Pinch me.

We trekked back to the station, tired, wet (smelling not very good, actually), and happy, and climbed back on the boat for the trip home. And then we saw a baby humpback whale.

Source: Laene on Tripadvisor