Located on the Central Pacific coast, a little north of Manuel Antonio, the Damas Island Estuary is a great place to observe rare and exotic wildlife. This half day tour will take you through this interesting refuge on a covered riverboat, allowing you to sit back and enjoy the scenery and natural surprises around every turn.
The tour starts when you are picked up from your local area hotel. Most guests will be coming from Manuel Antonio, which equates to about a 20 – 30 minute drive. Those coming from Uvita, Dominical, or Jaco will have a longer drive. Once you reach the refuge, you will meet your guide and board the boat for your safari.
The riverboat is covered to protect from sun or rain. It is equipped with a quiet engine so you have a better chance of hearing the wildlife and guide. Your bilingual guide is certified by the ICT as a professional naturalist guide ensuring you receive the best information on the wonders you will witness.
The Damas Island Estuary is loaded with wildlife! It is not uncommon to see playful capuchin monkeys, silky anteaters, sloths, and other mammals. Of course, there are plenty of reptiles including boas, crocodiles, and caiman. Many coastal migratory birds stop in at different times of the year. Egrets, herons, and spoonbills are commonly observed.
The tour is tide dependent as it is on a coastal estuary. Because of this, transportation and meal times may vary. Be prepared to spend around 2.5 hours on the boat. On this tour you will enjoy a traditional Costa Rican meal at a local restaurant.
Your safari adventure includes transportation, bilingual guide, gear, and a meal. In total, the tour is expected to last 4 hours, though this is subject to change and longer if you are staying in Jaco, Dominical, or Uvita. Transportation from these areas is at set times. If you have to wait for the tide to come in or wait for the bus back to your hotel, don't worry, you will have the opportunity to enjoy the beach, or hang out in the restaurant; please be prepared for these eventualities.
NOTE: Since this tour is tide dependent, please do not coordinate other tour activities on this day when staying in Jaco, Domical, or Uvita.
.The Damas Island Riverboat Safari is available from Dominical, Herradura, Jaco, Manuel Antonio, and Uvita
All Family
Latitude: N 9° 27' 30.76"
Longitude: W 84° 12' 3.37"
07/30/2023
Wonderful tour! William was very informative and accommodating! We had a great time!
06/17/2023
The tour was quite fun and more educational than I expected.
05/21/2023
William was excellent enjoyed the homemade meal afterwards
05/05/2023
Fabulous tutorial on the eco system of MANGROVE swamp by William A Vargas G.and "eagle eye' the boat driver.Delicious lunch afterwards at family home.
04/21/2023
Beautiful mangroves. Great guide! Lunch was perfect.
01/20/2022
The guides were great and the lunch we were provided was delicious but the overall riverboat experience was okay for me. There was nothing wrong with it but I enjoyed other excursions more than this one.
12/23/2021
Excellent excursion. Very relaxing, lunch was very good. Our guide Raoul was so knowledgeable. A trained Naturalist
06/02/2021
The tour guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. The scenery was impeccable
03/07/2021
Saw some monkeys and various birds, was hoping for more but you can't control nature. The mangrove is beautiful and the tour was very relaxing. Would definitely do again.
03/12/2020
The same group of guides as for Manuel Antonio and both guides were excellent. The tour was calm and restful, not overly exciting, but we saw the small tree-climbing ant-eater and that was really great! Fun breakfast!
12/30/2019
Several bold Capuchin monkeys hopped on board. Probably on a dare from the other monkeys, the leader quickly touched my knee then backed away. Very interesting tour with lots of wildlife.
04/01/2019
Excellent and guide was very knowledgeable. The lunch that was prepared was also tasty and simple!
03/27/2019
I wish I'd seen more wildlife on the tour, but it was great nonetheless.
02/10/2019
We got to see a variety of birds and the guide was very knowledgeable.
02/07/2019
Enjoyed it very much - the guides again were knowledgeable and we saw a lot of wildlife.
01/24/2019
Excellent tour with knowledgeable guide
12/27/2018
Assume!
12/19/2018
Small group, relaxing, nice lunch and great guide.
12/05/2018
Loved that we ended up getting lucky and basically had a private tour. The guide was entertaining and really knew how to connect with his guests. The boat driver had such a good eye at spotting things so I would like to truly offer my thanks to him as well. He really helped make the experience better.
07/13/2017
Really enjoyable, nice guide
07/05/2017
Appreciated the lunch included option, would like more of this in future trips. Appreciated the small group.
06/21/2017
SUCH A GREAT LUNCH, ATTENTION TO VEGETARIAN DIET
03/30/2017
Incredibly knowledgeable tour guide, learned a ton but he kept it lively even for teenagers.
02/27/2017
The guide was excellent in describing the importance of the mangrove forests. The boat operator was very skilled in spotting birds and animals that most of us would have missed. The traditional lunch was great.
01/19/2017
Nice if you would just like to kayak. But not much wildlife.
01/06/2017
The guide and boat captain were amazing at spotting the wildlife, and we learned a lot.
12/30/2016
Tour with guide was great. Started out rough with a 50 min delay getting picked up. Again, lunch was at 4:00 - not lunchtime. This was misleading. I wished we had known.
07/20/2016
Much better than our expectations. We saw a lot and learned a lot. the guide, Michael was very knowledgeable. and the whole trip was enjoyable.
04/12/2016
Very good tour....our guide was very good and personable. Even on the trip back to our hotel he stopped to point out scarlet macaws....wonderful.
04/06/2016
Guides knowledgible and spoke excellent english, Lunch provided simple but very tasty
02/24/2016
We enjoyed this trip very much. The guides were good and again, we saw interesting wildlife. It was a relaxing trip.
02/03/2016
In general, less adventure, more passive an activity than most of the things we did
02/02/2016
Was a little excited at the end, thought the monkeys were going to get us. The meal was wonderful!
01/31/2016
While I understand that some of these tours rely on the 'luck' of finding the wildlife, we hit the jackpot! Lots of white faced monkeys and a golden furred anteater, among others. The guides were professional and knowledgeable and the great little breakfast afterward was a nice bonus. It was clear that our guide had grown up among the mangroves and knew the land and wildlife intimately. Great tour, highly recommended.
01/30/2016
Enjoyed the tour and the guide was excellent. According to our itinerary, lunch was expected but breakfast was provided.
01/26/2016
Was okay. Early start, understanding that you need to catch the tide, but didn't see much wildlife.
01/23/2016
Very disappointed that we saw so little wildlife. We love the monkeys though.
01/06/2016
Wonderful. Boat was noisy - (but hubby wanted motor boat, I think I'd have liked to kayak)
08/03/2015
Randall was our guide and he was very informative . He has eyes like a hawk. The breakfast was delicious.
07/28/2015
Absolutely fabulous, great guide.
07/10/2015
Iguana Tours really exceeded my expectations. Randall remembered us from the night before and as this day was my birthday he had everyone sing to me. Really went out of his way to make my day and trip special. Andre the boat driver was always the best. We sat in the back with him and he pointed out things to us along the way. I would definitely recommend Iguana Tours again!
06/28/2015
This was a good tour once again wish we could have seen more animals
06/08/2015
Randall from Iguana Tours was very knowledgeable and personable. He really wanted everyone to see and love his country the way he did. We had some wonderful encounters with Capuchin Monkeys and learned all about the eco-system of the mangroves.
05/07/2015
Fabulous tour - not strenuous - thankfully!!!! great wildlife!!
02/19/2015
My wife and I both enjoyed this trip, it was excellent. The guide and boat captain were able to find lots of wildlife to show us.
01/27/2015
Fascinating. Had a good time. Breakfast was a quality treat we weren't expecting.