Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge Los Chiles – Day Trip from La Fortuna

Although the national parks steal the spotlight in Costa Rica as best places for wildlife and nature, refuges should not be overlooked.

One such wildlife refuge is the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge. Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is such an important protected area that it was named a RAMSAR site, an international title given to the most valuable wetlands in the world.

The vast Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge protects an immense amount of flora and fauna. Some of which have threatened, critically endangered and endangered statuses.

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RAMSAR Site

The Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is actually a mixed refuge meaning that it is not only important for the environment, but also for the the local inhabitants and indigenous communities.

This allows the locals to continue their traditional way of living, hand in hand with eco-tourism and sustainability.

Animals that can be seen in the refuge are three species of monkeys (howler, white face and Geoffrey’s spider), caimans, crocodiles, iguanas, two and three toed sloths, herons, egrets, ibis, kingfishers, hawks, jabiru, deer, otters, tapis, jaguars, ocelots and pumas.

Location

Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is located in the Alajuela province. The main boat launch of the refuge is at Los Chiles, just about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Nicaraguan border.

The main part of the refuge, the Caño Negro Lagoon is fed by the Rio Frio River. This lagoon dries up during dry season into small lagoons and pools and becomes the premiere site for birdwatching.

How to Visit Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge

Due to its remote nature and location, Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is not that easily accessible for the leisurely tourist. Nor is it the ideal location for the everyday tourist. A one day visit to the refuge is normally included only on birdwatching itineraries.

However, there are a small handful of lodges in the refuge such as Natural Lodge Caño Negro and Hotel de Campo Caño Negro which are geared towards birders or anyone who wants to visit more “off the beaten path” destinations in Costa Rica.

There are two main ways to visit the Caño Negro Lagoon and Refuge: by way of Los Chiles or by the town of Guatuso.

Both places offer boat tours down the river for a wildlife watching safari tour. Los Chiles is the more popular starting point, with many tour companies stationing their boats at the large and well maintained dock.

The easiest way to visit Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is a day trip from either La Fortuna or Bijagua. The day trip is a wildlife watching safari trip on a covered, motorized river boat.

Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge by Boat at Los Chiles Day Trip from La Fortuna

When we were in La Fortuna, we did the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge by boat at Los Chiles day trip with our tour partner, Jacamar Naturalist Tours. This was a full day trip (730 AM to 4 PM approximately).

The tour includes transportation from La Fortuna, lunch, entrance fees, refreshments, boat and bilingual guide. The boat launch is at the town of Los Chiles and the boat ride goes down the Rio Frio river into the refuge.

Drive time: ~1 hour and 45 minutes. The tour makes a couple stops along the way for bathroom breaks.

No minimum age so this is a great tour for families, kids of all ages and seniors. Anyone who likes wildlife and nature and wants to see animals will love this tour.

We offer a small discount for this tour with our partners, click the link to get more information about our La Fortuna tours discount!

Below are the photos we took during our boat ride and you can also watch our video. We did this tour at the beginning of March, the peak of dry season so we saw lots of migratory birds. We went down the Rio Frio river, into the refuge from Los Chiles.

Photos

Interested in the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge Los Chiles Boat Ride day trip from La Fortuna? Click the link to book the tour with our La Fortuna tours discount!

Video

You can see a video of what our tour was like below.

What to Know About the Day Trip

• In the dry season months like December through April, the lagoon dries up and this is the best time for birdwatching. Peak months are February and March. From June ish to October, the migratory birds have left but you can still see plenty of wildlife. No matter what time of year you visit, you WILL see animals! Read more about Costa Rica weather here.
• You must bring sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, comfortable clothes, mosquito repellent, binoculars (if you have a pair) and camera with a telephoto lens.
• If you want don’t have a telephoto lens, our guide helped us take photos through his telescope with our phone. This is a great tour for leisure photographers. I highly recommend to bring a telephoto lens, we used our 200-600 mm Sony lens to get our close up photos.
• The boat does not go super fast, so you don’t really get any sort of motion sickness as the river is very slow moving.

If you have a few days in La Fortuna and would like a rich, engaging and unique wildlife watching experience without having to hike a lot, the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge by boat is an excellent option! Read about things to do in La Fortuna here.

Need some itinerary ideas? Check out our 2 week Costa Rica itinerary and one week Costa Rica itinerary that includes La Fortuna. You can do the Caño Negro day trip during one of your days in La Fortuna!

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