Editor Pick
White Water Rafting on the Rio Coto Brus
- November 11, 2000
- Rated 4 of 5 by
Travelin Fools from Overgaard, Arizona
Although the tour company we went with specializes in trips on the Rio General we were lucky enough to call when they were planning a rafting trip on the little known, seldom run Rio Coto Brus. After being picked up at our motel we were driven down the new highway south to Ciudad Cortez in a comfortable 20-passenger bus. We then turned inland and traveled up the main highway alongside the Rio Terraba. This journey took about 1 1/2 hours and turned out to be a tour all by itself. After arriving at the put in and a quick safety briefing, we were off down river. Within five minutes, we saw our first tribe of squirrel monkeys and had negotiated the first of many rocky rapids. Our 4 hour trip continued with only one minor upset at a sharp turn river right, which momentarily pinned our raft on the bankside rock wall. Two passengers spilled out of the raft only to be rescued quickly in the calm water below the rapid by the safety kayaker. The river-side lunch adjacent to a nest of Choquarcos, a threathened bird species rarely seen even in Costa Rica, was an unexpected treat. Just above the take out near the confluence with the Rio General we observed crocodiles basking on small beaches and declined the guides invitation for a cooling swim before our return.
From journal Costa Rican Odyssey