A night tour is the best way to see wildlife in the Monteverde area. We have taken this tour twice now and found it to be excellent. The area covered is small, but there are a lot of animals roaming and resting there. We saw a sloth that was actually moving (relatively) rapidly from tree to tree, a kinkajou, two gray foxes, a coati, some snakes, many birds, and, amazingly, a margay! We were extremely blessed to see a margay (see photo). The guide told us that they see any wild cat only about twice a year and when they do see a wild cat, they usually just get a glimpse as it runs off. This margay sat in a tree and posed for us for at least 10 minutes before running off. It is a threatened animal and very rare. It was a beautiful animal!
Our guide, Michael, was young but very knowledgeable. One caveat is that he moved fast and my wife had trouble keeping up with him on the rough trails.
I highly recommend this night tour. You are unlikely to see the margay, but you will see lots of critters.
We visited December 1 and had a really great time with Carlos, who showed us Emerald toucans sleeping in a tree, tarantula, sleeping eagle, and two toed sloth, as well as other interesting animals.
This is a great place to see the Kinkajou but that's not all. By night wildlife changes their behavior, so I would say it's a must go. We had the chance to see many Green Palm Pit Viper in hunting position, tarantula, Kinkajous, many bitds and insects.
Very interesting walking tour of the Cloud Forest. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and was able to show us coatis, birds, lizards, insects and lots of specialized flora. Cool and misty, great, well maintained trails.
A good walk through the jungle in the evening. Chris, our tour guide, did a great job pointing out different wildlife including snakes and a Pikachu. Was a great start down in Costa Rica
