Crocodile river boat tour on the Tárcoles

From the bridge on Route 34 over the Tárcoles you can look down on dozens of American crocodiles lying on the banks. The boat trips from Tárcoles village go closer. They run about an hour along the river and the mangroves at its mouth, where some crocodiles reach six or seven metres, and they come right up to the boats because guides have long fed them. Keep your hands inside the boat.

Birders get as much out of it as crocodile spotters: scarlet macaws flying over, roseate spoonbills, herons including the boat-billed and bare-throated tiger heron, kingfishers and more than 300 recorded species around the estuary. Iguanas and monkeys show up on the banks too. The river drains most of the Central Valley and is the most polluted in the country. Carara National Park, next door, is the place to look for macaws on foot.