Review: Costa Rica’s Jaguar Rescue Center tour with kids
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Absolutely no trip to Costa Rica is complete without seeing some of the famous wildlife. If you’re thinking of taking the kids to Costa Rica then it’s likely that you’ve got national parks and sloth-spotting tours firmly written in to your itinerary.
But if you’re keen to see some of the famous Costa Rican wildlife WITHOUT hiking through the jungle, then you might want to consider taking the whole family on a Jaguar Rescue Center tour.
We travelled Costa Rica from coast-to-coast as part of our family gap year and were blown away by the wildlife we saw. The amazement on the faces of our kids when they spotted a sloth in the trees or a nesting turtle made it the trip of a lifetime. But we did also love the opportunity to really learn more about the animals of Costa Rica AND fit in some extra, guaranteed sightings up-close-and-personal.
And this is where the Jaguar Rescue Center tour came in – the perfect day out in Costa Rica for absolutely anyone who wants to find out more about the wildlife here and the efforts being made to preserve it.
This is our honest review of our Jaguar Rescue Center tour – including what you can expect to see, how to get there, how to book tickets and much more.
Table of Contents
Are there jaguars in Costa Rica?
Yes, there are jaguars in Costa Rica. These beautiful, critically-endangered big cats inhabit the more remote, protected regions of the country and there are estimated to be around 400-600 of them still in the wild. They are incredibly rare to spot so, unless you’re off into the jungle for several weeks with a professional guide in tow, you probably shouldn’t expect to see any during your visit to Costa Rica.
Let’s go right ahead and say this: there are NO jaguars at the Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica. And in fact, there never have been! If you merrily book a tour expecting to be wowed by these big cats then you are going to be very disappointed.
The centre takes it’s name from a misunderstanding right at it’s original inception. Two vets from Europe living in the area became known as the experts on animals; as time went on, locals started to bring injured wildlife to the couple for treatment. This included a young puma. Mistakenly thinking it was a jaguar, the vets home became known locally as the Jaguar Rescue Center. As it expanded it kept the name (despite never ACTUALLY treating any jaguars!).
Where is the Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica?
The Jaguar Rescue Centre is located between the two small towns of Manzanillo and Puerto Viejo de Talamanca on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica. It’s about halfway between the two towns, located opposite the El Rincon Porteno restaurant.
If you’re staying in any of the beach towns locally (including Manzanillo, Cahuita and Puerto Viejo) you can catch the local bus that runs along the beach road. This is very cheap and runs fairly regularly.
Be aware that the bus timetable does not always tie in with the times of the Jaguar Rescue Centre tours though. We caught the bus there and had an hour or so to kill before opening; the El Rincon Porteno restaurant opposite does delicious fresh fruit smoothies and juices so is a good option if you need to wait. It also has a small playground so if you have younger kids they can burn off some energy here.
On our way home however, there was a gap in the bus timetable which left us with a wait of around 2-hours. In this case you can easily hail one of the tuktuks that ply the main road route between the towns. This is more expensive but is the best option if you want to avoid a long wait to get home. And with kids in tow (plus the heat!) that’s never ideal!
If you have your own hire car there is parking available on the unpaved road that leads to the Jaguar Rescue Centre.
How to book a Jaguar Rescue Center tour
You can book your tour of the center online in advance. And booking in advance is definitely recommended as it can sell-out, particularly in the high season.
Booking a tour is the ONLY way to visit the center – this is a working conservation center so they don’t allow any other public visits outside the organised tours.
Tours run every day except Sunday, at 09:30am or 11:30am.
Tickets for the tours cost $27.13 per person; kids under 10 are free.
What do you see on a Jaguar Rescue Centre tour?
Again, there are NO jaguars on a Jaguar Rescue Centre tour. Just making that explicitly clear to avoid disappointment!
There are however an abundance of other animals that are fascinating to see up-close-and-personal. Animals you can expect to see include:
- Sloths
- Opossums
- Raccoons
- Coatis
- Margays
- Agoutis
- Deer
- Monkeys
- Snakes
- Macaws
The tour takes you round the various enclosures and the guides go into detail about the animals living there. Including some very funny tales – you can tell that they really know the animals!
Our boys absolutely LOVED Diablo the Margay – watching him prowl around his enclosure and hearing the very funny tales about his character from our tour guide was definitely a highlight.
He boys still talk about the VERY grumpy macaws too – at one point our tour group had to be moved away from the macaws as one particularly enraged bird was chasing us down. The tour guides explained that he could actually be quite vicious and could do some serious damage to guests’ toes if left unchecked (seriously, I’m really not making this up!).
Towards the end of the tour we were allowed to quickly file past a tiny baby sloth being hand-reared by staff. Whilst staff are keen to raise awareness of the dangers facing sloths in Costa Rica (particularly from electrical wires) they have to balance this with making sure the animals have minimal human contact so that they can potentially be released in to the wild in the future.
The focus of the center is on rehabilitating the animals so that they can be re-released back in to the wild. However there are cases where this is not possible, so some of the wildlife has found a permanent home at the center.
One of the best bits of a tour to the Jaguar Rescue Center is not only the animals but actually getting to understand the wider role the center plays and the work it does for wildlife conservation in Costa Rica. This is a great place to learn about animal rehabilitation, the dangers they face and how conservationism works on the ground, in real life.
Is a Jaguar Rescue Center tour worth it?
Whilst we are often NOT the type of travellers to take an organised tour, in this case I can highly recommend it. The Jaguar Rescue Center tour is a genuinely brilliant way to better understand some of the conservation efforts that go on in Costa Rica.
The tour guides (all volunteers) are some of the best we’ve ever come across, in all of our world family travels. They are funny, knowledgeable and clearly very passionate about the work they do at the centre. Our guide joked with the kids, and really engaged them in the whole thing.
On the whole, we found Costa Rica to be a wonderful worldschooling destination; there is so much that children can learn by simply spending time in this amazing country. And the Jaguar Rescue Center was the perfect example of a fun but highly educational day out for the boys. They can both still recall TONS of facts that they learnt on the day and it definitely inspired them to find out more about many of the animals they saw (and the threats that they are under).
Tips for visiting the Jaguar Rescue Center
- Book your spot online in advance – tours only operate twice a day and do often sell out.
- Remember to factor in a tip for the guide in your budgeting – they are all volunteers and definitely deserve a tip at the end for all their fab knowledge!
- The gift shop here is pretty good and has several souvenirs that are likely to attract the attention of children (cuddly toys for example). Be prepared to be pestered by your kids to buy something!
- Ask as many questions as you like – the guides are fantastic and more than happy to answer pretty much anything you can throw at them.
Planning a family vacation to Costa Rica?
If you’re planning a travel adventure to Costa Rica with kids then check out our other posts for more inspiration. You can also download our FREE Costa Rica Travel with Kids Guide, including all the info you need to plan the perfect trip – including an itinerary curated specifically for family travel.
