Costa Rica/Nicaragua/Panama: Suggestions for VERY low budget mammal watching?
Hi all!
Unfortunately I only make US$15,000 a year (small online business) and can’t come close to affording most of the tours or even accommodations people talk about on here. But my partner and I are currently backpacking through Central America, and would love to see as many interesting mammals as is practical (especially non-tiny, neotropical-specialty ones). We usually stay at accommodations that cost US$20-30 per night for two people, and travel by public transit or sometimes hitchhiking. Not sure if that’s possible in Costa Rica or not, but if not then we’ll do our best via Couchsurfing and other methods.
My impression is that there are various places in Costa Rica where interesting mammals can be seen reliably from easily accessible places – it would be great to get a quick rundown of highlights from someone. We also may be interested in one or two tours of the local, under-$100 variety. Not sure if we should expect such a thing from Costa Rica or Panama, but if not then maybe Nicaragua? I’m planning to do a lot more in-depth research soon, but any experienced opinions on the overall situation and not-to-miss suggestions would be REALLY helpful.
Thanks!
P.S. We’ve already seen quite a few Central American Spider Monkeys and Agoutis, so no need to suggest places that are primarily for those!
And if there are some species that would be much easier somewhere in South America, it would be great to know that too, since we’re hopefully heading there around the end of this year.
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23 Comments
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Vladimir Dinets
It would probably be cheaper to rent a car and live in it. Costa Rica is a small country, so there’s always a beach or a mountain stream nearby, no need to worry about showers. I lived like that for months when traveling around Central America. As for viewable mammals, there’s a ton of trip reports here 🙂
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tomeslice
I second Vladimir on the renting car, and another option is camping, which I think is possible in many different parks.
I think that if you read trip reports on the site you can get a good idea for where some wildlife exists, and the possibilities are endless. Any forest around Arenal, Monteverde-Santa Elena, Corcovado, Manual Antonio, Tortuguero, Baullio Carrillo (away from the main road though) and into the La Selva station and its vicinity, are all great and hold basically all the wildlife in the country. -
Ian Thompson
Hi Evan,
If you are going to Panama, Pipeline Road near Gamboa is free to access and has great wildlife. You’d probably want to take a tent, as there is nowhere really inexpensive to stay in Gamboa of which I am aware. There used to be a building at the end of the main part of the road (22.5 km in) used as a patrol post by rangers where you might be able to stay. In Costa Rica, previously one could camp at Sirena Station in Corcovado very cheaply, but you are now required to go with a guide, which would make it pricier. Cahuita has inexpensive places to stay and is adjacent to a national park where you can camp and hike on your own. Camping in Santa Rosa National Park is quite nice and offers a reasonable array of wildlife. Hitch-hiking is possible in Costa Rica and Panama in rural areas, varying from good to very slow.-
Evan
Awesome, thanks so much for all the tips, particularly regarding camping and hitchhiking! Is Corcovado truly a highlight, then, or only if you could camp there? Looks like travelers in general are impressed by it (there are cell phone photos of tapirs and tamanduas in Google Maps reviews!), but I wasn’t sure if it might be a bit of a tourist trap compared to lesser-known areas (there are also a few complaints that the forest is secondary and there’s a lot of human activity at the camp). My partner in particular might appreciate the guided experience, and looks like it might be affordable enough for us to do as our main splurge.
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Martin Walsh VN
We were in Costa Rica in August and so can give you fresh feedback on prices.
For transport, public buses are super cheap and can get you between most towns/large villages. But if your budget can stretch higher, then the advice to rent a car would save you a lot of time and give you much more flexibility to reach more remote lodges/camping areas etc.
Accommodation is harder to find budget options for. We live in SE Asia and found prices in Costa Rica to be extremely expensive; prices were sometimes comparable to the US (for food too). Again, if you can stretch to hiring your own car, this is likely your best chance to keep costs low. If not, some of the bigger tourist towns have some cheaper options to stay, while the more remote parks/private reserves often only have a few very pricey places. The tourist hotpots tend to be extremely commercialized though (Monteverde being the worst by far, where you’ll be expected to pay around $20 USD for a 1.5km trail…) and so, again, it might be better to budget more and splurge on staying in some of the (very good) eco-lodges at least a couple of times in your trip.
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Jonatan den Haan
Hi Evan!
As most people mentioned already, getting a car to sleep on will indeed probably save you quite a bit of money while traveling. That bein said, when we were there in 2023 we did sleep in a few quite cheap locations. So don’t get hug up on all the expensive lodges, there are a lot of good alternatives out there. A car will also give you the freedom to do some nice mammal watching on random roads, we saw a lot of cool things there. If you do want to spend money on a fancier place I can highly recommend La Selva. We were there because of research we did, but the place itself is amazing and the sightings we and friends had there were incredible. You can just wander the paths at night, they are totally fine with that.
Costa Rica is one of the most expensive countries in Central/South America though, there’s no point denying that. If budget really is such a stretch, it might be worth looking at other countries as well. even though Costa Rica is extremely nice, because of this reason it is very expensive. Also buying food at local markets will give you better prices that the big a*s Wallmart. Try to avoid meats and fish though.
TLDR:
– Don’t go to the big tourist spots
– Avoid the big Eco resorts
– Be bold and go to remote roads for mammals
– Buy food at markets and not at Walmart
– Get a 4×4 car to sleep inSave travels and happy mammalwatching!
Jonatan-
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Martin Walsh VN
I’ll butt in here and say we just went to La Selva, it was amazing. You get complete freedom as a tourist, so don’t worry about that. You can wander around day or night on any of the trails.
You can see what I saw (or at least the stuff I managed to photograph over 3 days) on Inat here to give you an idea of what you could hope for: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=10.59175195249555&nelng=-83.87979219376547&place_id=any&swlat=10.306793353553296&swlng=-84.22723482071859&user_id=martin53&verifiable=any
So, 123 species, of which 13 were mammals.
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Jonatan den Haan
Hi Evan,
In La Selva, everything can happen! Friends of mine (non-researchers) saw a tapir had a tapir walking on the road on the second night they were there. We didn’t see one in the three weeks we were stationed there. An ocelot will cross the big bridge every other night, so there is also a chance of seeing that one, but of course it might also be possible it will not cross the exact night you’re there. In the end it’s just a game of chance. If you let them know you are an enthusiast and not some dumb rich American tourist they will let you do quite a lot. I recommend emaling them beforehand how the current season is going and if there were any cool sightings lately. There are many guides around so they have a pretty good picture how the area is doing.
Species we saw:
-Agouti
-Neotropical river otter
-Tomes spiny rat
-Proboscis bat
-Collared peccary
-Nine-banded armadillo
-Mexican hairy porcupine
-Northern tamandua
-Mantled howlerCurrently don’t have the field guide with me but there are a lot of other species to be seen as well.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Kind regards,
Jonatan
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Evan
Awesome, thanks for the comparison! I spent six months in Panama in 2020, but almost entirely in the heart of the city and most indoors (and in hostel gardens), because of pandemic lockdown. 😅 Did manage to catch a sloth on the way through Bocas del Toro just before lockdown (arrived by sailboat), and Geoffroy’s Tamarin on the edge of Panama City as lockdown was easing just before I left! Would love to go try some more now that we have freedom of movement again…
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Asanoth
Hello,
you can check this topic:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g309279-i4523-k14585117-Wildlife_on_budget-Osa_Peninsula_Province_of_Puntarenas.html
I spent about 1000 USD + flights (from Europe) on 18 days solo trip.
There is a trip report on the 5th page of the thread, including the iNaturalist link with observed species.
I did not go to La Selva, as it was too expensive for me; also species on iNaturalist were not different than in other places.
I did not go to Corcovado, I went to Osa from the other side, but I did not see much of what I would not see before: except for scarlet macaws, which were one of my primary targets. Most, if not all mammal species seen in Osa could have also been seen around Quepos and in other forests on the Pacific coast. Only for a tapir you would probably need to go guided to Corcovado, but that is some 200 USD a day (100 USD for entry).
I saw (only?) 15-16 mammal species (14 logged and two possums I did not manage to photograph), but I was looking for general wildlife and not making my itinerary around seeing mammal species.
As stated in the report, I was a bit worried to go spotlighting alone, it is still central America. If you are in a lodge that allows that, then it is certainly possible.
Costa Rica was a great trip, very easy to see wildlife on your own, and even though park entry fees are not too cheap, it still was not expensive. -
pvaneijk
Not sure if you are still in Central America, but just uploaded a post on a place in Panama (Lost and Found Hostel in La Fortuna) where you can see Cacomistle and other cool stuff at very low cost (just 15 USD a night!). Is easily accessible by bus (although more convenient to get around by car). Good luck with your trip!
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Evan
Thank you – your timing is impeccable! I’m right now in Cahuita, Costa Rica and about to head into Panama (skipping Bocas del Toro because I’ve been there before and have limited time). I had in fact just discovered Lost and Found hostel myself by scanning Google Maps for places to stay in natural-looking areas, and I did see Cacomistles mentioned in the information – so your report from the area is very helpful and encouraging! You’ve made the decision to stay there extra easy, and might also save me some time looking for animals in places where you already didn’t see much (though I’ll have to use some of my time there working in any case).
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kylecmsmith
I went to Costa Rica back in 2007 (though I was still a kid at the time and may not remember all the details accurately). We saw three species of monkeys at Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio (Central American Squirrel Monkeys, Central American White-faced Capuchins, and a Mantled Howler Monkey), and these were just from walking around on the trails for one day. It looks like the current admissions price for foreigners is about US$18 (https://www.sinac.go.cr/ES/ac/acopac/pnma/Paginas/default.aspx). The other place where I remember seeing lots of mammals was Hacienda Barú. We saw plenty of capuchins and White-nosed Coatis just by walking around, and on the zipline tour, we also saw a sloth and an anteater, if I recall correctly. We stayed at one of their cottages, which might not suit your budget, but they offer several tours, including self-guided ones for as low as US$15 (https://www.haciendabaru.com/en/tours-details/).