Ziplining With Monteverde Extremo Park
Costa Rica has a lot of adventure options and tours but Ziplining has to be the one that Costa Rica is known for. There is no doubt that flying through or over the canopy of Costa Rica’s jungles is a great way to spend a few hours or a full day.
I had done some research into ziplining before I planned to go to Costa Rica and a few blogs and articles I read suggested that Monteverde Cloud Forest was the perfect location for my ziplining adventures. I had been once before in New Zealand but never done anything that was similar to the multi-stage ziplines that Costa Rica has.
I didn’t have a car in Costa Rica and was traveling by public transport and minivans so I decided to book a day tour for my zip line day. I had gotten myself so confused as to what Zipline park I was going to go to that in the end I looked for the one with the most lines and the most unique lines.
I ended up booking this tour through Trip Advisor and was really happy with my choice.
The Extremo Park in Monteverde is only about 15 minutes outside of Santa Elena, which is the main town for all Monteverde adventures. They have:- 14 zipline cables
- A Tarzan swing
- A 30 meter Rappel
- A superman cable
- A Subterranean zip line which goes through a 175m tunnel
- And covers over 4km in total.
Staying Safe
I felt completely safe throughout the whole adventure and I’m not exactly a lightweight. They did ask me my weight before the Tarzan swing which was a little reassuring to me, to be honest. I was fine and well within the weight limit which I think is 120kg, but it was good that they checked. I’m sure others would be wildly offended by that but I was around 100kg at the time and am very tall so they were well within their rights to ask. There is one zip line where you have to do it in pairs so I was paired with another guy which was fine for me, however, you are very close together during the ride, so if you are a woman that would not be happy with this just speak up and they will hold you aside until another single woman comes along. A girl in front of me did that and they were more than happy to accommodate her.Follow Their Instructions
It is important to listen to their advice on the longer zip lines. You can get way too fast or too slow if you don’t. For the 1km long one, they told me to put my arms out asap to slow myself as I was pretty heavy and would be going too fast at the end if I didn’t. The young girls before me who were around 40kg were told exactly the opposite. They were told not to put their arms out under any circumstances. Apparently, they often have situations where people don’t listen and one of the crew has to climb out over 500 meters and retrieve zip liners that have stopped in the middle. So, listen to them and do what they ask.Hiking between the zip lines
It is worth knowing that you do have to walk from one zip line to another and while it’s not days of hiking, it is steep in parts and there are a few hundred steps between some lines. Of course, if you are zip lining you have to get up high enough to do it so that means hiking up the hill. This does give you a nice experience of the forest floor in places and I really enjoyedthe walks between the lines.
They also have bungee jumping but I’ve already done that and try not to spend money on things I’ve already done so I can’t speak to how good that is.
Overall I really enjoyed my day, I felt very safe the entire time and would recommend this tour for sure. I loved the Tarzan swing the best and wanted to go back and do it again, but that would have been a bit of a stretch for my budget.
Being Tarzan In Costa Rica
Check out me on the Tarzan Swing. I LOVED that thing and wanted to go again but they wouldn't let me.
It was probably something to do with the 40 people behind me waiting I guess….
image=”https://www.chargetheglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/destinations-icon-1.jpg” _builder_version=”4.17.3″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]