travelbug821

I know that the Hanging Bridges offer a night tour. Is it better to see animal life during the evening after 7pm, or during the day?

sandyc

No. You will be lucky to see anything at night, and actually it's not easy to see animals from the bridges during the day. You make a lot of noise, and they stay away. The best way to see animals is from a boat like the tour of Cano Negro. You will see a lot. To go through the rainforest I prefer an on-the-ground hike w/ a naturalist. They teach you the most fascinating things.

Sandy

travelbug821

Thanks again Sandy!! I guess I'll skip the night tour at the Arenal Hanging Bridges and opt for a morning guided tour througout Arenal National Park.

ljv

Hi travelbug!
Our family was in Costa Rica this past August and did a daytime trip on the Hanging Bridges in pretty heavy rain. We did not have a guide, but really enjoyed ourselves...it's a lot of fun and unbelievably beautiful, even in the rain! We heard howler monkeys,and saw an extremely large spider in a web, many butterflies, including a blue morpho as well as a variety of birds. Highly recommended way to spend a couple of hours!

ljv

Sorry travelbug, but I have one more thing to add. The hanging bridges give you an opportunity to hike above the canopy, for a completely different perspective.We also did a zip-line tour, but you're going too fast to truly appreciate the view. Hope this helps.

Suzie2

Define animals. The forests come alive at night and you can see some pretty amazing things. Of course bats are the one animal you associate with nighttime. Spiders. A lot of them might not be what you want to see but there is plenty going on. Everyone that goes down to CR can't help but notice how busy those little leaf cutter ants are during the day. They are even busier at night. Amazing little buggers. Even the army ants stay out of their way. Tree frogs are fun to find at night. Jaguars are out at night. You won't see any of those though. Kinkajous come out at night. Although rarely on the ground, you can see them in the trees. I saw one on the ground right outside my cabin last week around 9pm down on the Osa. A couple of years ago we bought night vision glasses that we leave with our friend down there to use when we aren't there. You can really see some neat stuff with those. A lot of visitors to Costa Rica have gotten to enjoy them because he is a tour guide.

If it is the large fuzzy type of animal that you want to see like monkeys and sloths you are better off looking during the morning or late afternoon. We went on the bridges before they were done with the whole complex and there were very few visitors. We went late afternoon and didn't see anything in the way of wildlife other than birds but the place was still beautiful.

Costa Rica is an amazing place and whether you opt for the warm fuzzies during the day or the creepy crawlies at night it will be a fun and interesting hike.