In the last decade, ziplines have sprung up like weeds at adventure travel destinations worldwide. At ski resorts, in tropical jungles, in coastal Alaska, on properties belonging to schools, hotels, and outfitters: If there's space to string a cable, there seems to be a zipline. But nowhere is ziplining more popular than in Costa Rica, one of the places where the concept of ziplining began.
Costa Rica is renowned as one of the world's top eco-tourism destinations. The motto of the small Central America country's national tourist board is "no artificial ingredients," and indeed, Costa Rica was the first country to come up with a nationwide certification program for sustainable hotels. This doesn't mean that every hotel in the country is eco-friendly, of course. But to encourage the development of sustainable properties, Costa Rica awards "leaves" (the green equivalent of stars) to sustainable resorts, from eco-lodges to luxury resorts to small boutique hotels. Costa Rican eco-lodges focus on eco-friendly activities such as nature tours, birdwatching, and, of course, ziplining.
Ziplining in Costa Rica: From Scientists to Tourists
Zip-lining was not invented for tourists: The first people to take to the air were scientists studying the rainforest canopy. The rest of us watched on National Geographic T.V. But the step to making ziplining an adventure travel activity was a small one. Safety standards have been established, and it turns out that installing zip-lines is cost-effective and practical, even in a developing country. It's also a sustainable and eco-friendly activity. Consider the following:
- Once constructed, a zip-lining facility requires no fossil fuels to run on a daily basis (unless, that is, sky trams and gondolas are involved).
- Ziplines are a relatively low-cost, low tech project to install, ideal in a developing nation.
- Ziplining puts people in the air, swinging over the forest floor, not trampling on delicate vegetation.
- Ziplining provides employment to local people, who can easily be trained to take on responsible positions of guiding groups and managing the facilities. It also creates trickle-down secondary employment, such as preparing meals and making and selling souvenirs.
- No one is going to want to zip over a shopping mall, so having a zipline means that efforts will be made to preserve the forest.
- Ziplining can be an educational experience that brings adults and children up close and personal with the natural environment. In Costa Rica, for example, guides explain about cloud forests and rainforest ecology, and point out birds like the national symbol, the brightly-colored quetzal.
Zipline Courses in Costa Rica
When traveling through Costa Rica, it sometimes seems that you can't throw a stone without hitting someone flying through the air! Most eco-resorts either offer ziplining on property, or can easily arrange for a ziplining tour at a neighboring facility. Most of these can be booked on arrival.
Perhaps the best place to zipline in Costa Rica is where it all began: In the cloud forests of the interior mountains. Try the eco-lodges near Los Quetzales National Park, Costa Rica's newest national park, located just under 50 miles south of San Jose in the Talamanca Mountains. You may join the quetzal, Costa Rica's brilliant turquoise, emerald, and ruby-colored national bird, as you fly through the gray and green shrouded forest. The Selvatura Canopy Tour offers one of the country's longest ziplines through virgin forest in Monteverde in the Central Highlands region. Also in the Central Highlands region are some of the more unusual zipline offerings, which include ziplines combined with butterfly gardens and hummingbird gardens.
Costa Rican zip line tours can be half-day mini-adventures, or they can be mixed with other activities, usually waterfall hiking, skytrams, bird watching, or horsebackriding. At the five-star Borinquen Resort in Guanacaste, visitors can ride horses to the zipline site, spend a couple of hours flying through the air, then return on horseback. Typical prices for ziplining range from $45 to $145, depending on amenities (lunch, transortation ) and activities (skytrams, riding, hiking, etc.).
Ziplining is safe for people of most ages weights, and physical conditions. Different facilities may have different requirements for visitor safety on ziplines, depending on the kind of course they offer. Typical restrictions include age (usually at least six, but sometimes older), pregnancy, and weight. (The limits usually cap out at around 250 pounds.) Check in advance, then strap in and enjoy the thrill of flying through the Costa Rican rainforest, which boasts some of the most interesting and richest tropical ecosystems on earth.
Karen Berger - Karen Berger is the author of 15 books. Please click on her name to read her full bio.
