The Safari Float by Kayak on the Rio Penas Blancas is a great way to observe wildlife while enjoying a fun outdoor adventure. Imagine kayaking down a river surrounded by jungle and tropical wildlife!
The day starts when you are picked up from your Arenal Volcano area hotel. After all participants have been picked up you will be brought to the Penas Blanca River, about 20 minutes from La Fortuna. Your guide will give you paddling plus safety instructions and help you into your kayak which may be the kind where you sit on top, or inflatable.
While the river gently pushes you downstream, you will use your paddle to steer along the banks viewing the wildlife that is visible on the day of your visit. As you drift down the river your guide will attempt to spot sloths, howler monkeys, toucans, waterfowl, crocodiles, iguanas, turtles, and much more. The river and its banks provide a perfect habitat for numerous critters and tropical wildlife. At the end, you'll take out at a traditonal family-operated Costa Rican ranch to taste tortillas, coffee and chocolate.
Transportation will be provided back to your hotel following the tour. In total, including round trip transfers, the tour is expected to last 4.5 to 5.5 hours, though timing is always subject to change. This laid back river tour includes transportation, equipment, bilingual guide, and snacks.
The Safari Float by Kayak on Rio Penas Blancas is available from Arenal, Arenal Zone 2, Arenal Zone 3, Chachagua Rainforest Hotel, and Nuevo Arenal
5 and up
Latitude: N 10° 30' 28.74"
Longitude: W 84° 30' 33.56"
06/27/2023
Our guides were very knowledgable and helpful. They def need to not have people trying to paddle against current, especially for the more inexperienced kayakers. Parts of the kayaking were very frustrating. We loved the chocolate experience afterwards!
05/09/2023
Bryan was awesome!
03/24/2023
This was one of the highlights of our trip. The guides were friendly and very informative. Our group was able to set our own pace and it was an enjoyable time. We saw incredible wildlife.
12/07/2022
We saw lots of wildlife and had enjoyable time kayaking..
10/13/2022
Great Guide - Joe - Great company. Really enjoyed floating and seeing all the wildlife!
07/13/2022
The river was up, & we received slightly cautionary instructions from our guide. But we had kayaking experience from the creek at home, & he seemed to just let us navigate freely, which provided me with confidence. The concluding snack was surprisingly nice.
03/16/2022
A fun experience all around, including the post-float snacks at the lovely take-out point.
09/14/2021
We were supposed to kayak, but unfortunately the weather did not permit this. Overall it was a nice experience though.
06/22/2021
Again, the guide was exceptional and even (carefully) brought us a red poison dart frog to look at.
11/23/2020
Would highly recommend.
01/25/2020
Tour bus was small for the number of people that were brought to the river. Mario our guide was fabulous!!! The lunch are and food was great.
09/18/2019
This might have been our favorite excursion
06/15/2019
Jorge was very knowledgeable, pleasant and accommodating. We saw all kinds of animals (basilisks, howler monkeys, birds, crocodiles, a sloth and a river otter), which is exactly what I wanted out of the tour. The hot chocolate at the end capped off a beautiful morning.
03/28/2019
Jorge and Rinaldo were fabulous.
03/25/2019
Loved the tour, lots of animals
03/22/2019
Great guides. We saw a lot of wildlife.
10/24/2018
Guide was sharp enough to see that we should go in a raft and we agreed. They stopped back at shop and switched to a raft and the main guide went with us down river! We are very grateful we took a raft as the first thing that happened was the other kayak tipped over and dumped the two in the river!
02/11/2017
My guide let me kayak with him. Very pleasurable.
02/01/2017
Wonderful kayak trip, enjoyed seeing the crocs & excellent break at the river farm. So nice to hear the history &Abe a guest there. We were treated like family. Excellent tour.
08/06/2016
Very Fun tour. Really enjoyed the river and got to see lots of wildlife. Our guides were very friendly and fun
03/26/2016
Some guides were a 10+, others were unremarkable (not bad, just not great), so average 8. I felt like the visit to the farm where we were expected to leave a tip for the coffee and snack was something that I wished I had known about up front, just to be prepared with small bills and for that expectation.
03/08/2016
Better experience than the first kayak trip; good equipment.
02/10/2016
Wasn't as rigorous as I thought. Guide was fantastic at pointing out wild life.
01/26/2016
Jorge was amazing!
01/04/2016
This was one of my favorites! We saw so many animals thanks to our guide! and had much fun on the river! The howler monkeys were awesome!
08/25/2015
While very exciting, they should probably stress that you will see many crocodiles along and in the water. Not for first time kayakers.
08/07/2015
Gabriel was awesome! The kayaking was awesome too!