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Private Nature Adventure Tour in Curu Wildlife Refuge
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Reviewed December 27, 2011

We visited Curu as a day trip during our stay in Tambor. Upon arrival, a friendly staff member gave us a map of the reserve and described the trail options. We headed off down the trails and immediately were able to spot white-tailed deer, many beautiful plants, crocodile, iguanas,agouti, coati, lizards and several types of monkeys. The trails were well-maintained with fencing and a good width. There were very few other people, allowing for a quiet, nature experience and opportunities to spot lots of wildlife. We hiked on the major moderate difficulty trials for ~3-4hours, visited a lookout point with a gorgeous view of the beach and bay and spent a few hours swimming alone in the peaceful, very calm waters of the bay. It was also possible to rent sea kayaks (~$10-15/hr), take a boat trip to the visable Tortuga Islands or take a diving trip from the reserve. At the administration, there was a small gift shop and dining hall. Very rustic cabins could be rented for ~$15/night.
Overall, this was a terrific day trip on the Southern Nicoya Penninsula for a peaceful day hike and swimming where one can see many more animals than other people.

Date of experience: December 2011
Thank Italialuv
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed April 17, 2011

When I travel, I stay where there are no frills, shared baths, very basic.. Rudimentary is fine with me. But this place was too much. I arrived in the afternoon, having talked with presumably the owner in town who assigned me cabin #3. Needed a taxi to get there. There was detritus, broken down, unused stuff everywhere. A real mess, no indication of any care or pride taken with the place. It appeared at one time groups had been accommodated there, but not now. And the place was deserted. Creepy.
Finally I heard a cough and found an old woman who, after about a half hour of looking around, found me a map of the place and a bottle of water. But then I checked out the cabin and it was so filthy, I wouldn't step into the shower and hated to lie on the bed. By this time I had lost any interest in eating food prepared there and since it was so far from any other source of food, I left early the next morning. I did enjoy my nightime walk around and would have liked to stay long enough to walk some of the trails in the morning, but I was so discouraged by the whole experience (and didn't have enough food to make a breakfast) I walked the 2 and a half kilometers to the guardhouse by the road to catch a bus away from there. Except for the man in the guardhouse and the old woman, I never saw another person there. A strange experience.

Date of experience: March 2011
1  Thank MSM100
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed June 28, 2009

We arrived at Curu in late May expecting a fairly rustic but quiet and idyllic beach-centered experience. On our previous trips to Costa Rica, we have always stayed in out-of-the-way places and yet had wonderful experiences in rustic conditions, i.e., no hot water, limited or no electricity, etc. We consider ourselves pretty robust travellers with more tolerance for 'simplicity' than most. However, this place tested us in ways we did not at all anticipate.

Some of the things we feel absolutely compelled to share:

-- The beach -- The view of it from a distance is quite beautiful, but when we arrived it didn't take us long at all to see a completely different story. We were immediately reminded of the environmental catastrophe that is all the floating plastic debris in our oceans. This debris here consists of millions of tiny plastic bits, larger more recognizable plastic garbage items, and a few surprisingly large chunks like milk bottles and what appeared to be briefcases. It was stunning, and very depressing. On the 2nd day we did see 3 men who spent all morning diligently picking up as much of that as they could, but unfortunately the next high tide brought in a whole fresh batch of plastic. We were totally discouraged from swimming as a result.

-- The accommodations, and staff -- Overall, the place was surprisingly hands-off, especially compared to virtually all other ecolodges we've ever stayed. No orientation, no program, no introductions, and frankly no staff members other than the fellow who manned the gift shop from 8 to 4. For a place that has a rich history, this was astounding to us. But it went even more downhill from there. We were given the ugliest and worst cabin on the beach, despite the fact we were the ONLY guests at the lodge. Our cabin was sitting on stilts above a scrap wood heap, inhabited by broken toilets and a family of stray dogs. (Signs clearly say dogs are not allowed at Curu, yet we encountered no fewer than 5 roaming the grounds quite freely, everywhere we went.) No tiled bathroom or shower for us - just concrete and pipes. The room was musty and the mattresses were dirty and probably dated back to 1976, based on the Sylvester and Tweety patterns on them. The aforementioned dogs also kept us awake by barking at nothing apparently, at 20-minute intervals throughout the night. As a result of the beach and this issue, we truncated our visit and bolted out of here before our scheduled departure - we just couldn't take it anymore.

That all said, there are positive things about Curu, which do in fact make it a good place to come for a day visit.

-- Wildlife -- The wildlife at Curu is indeed impressive. Casual walks on the maintained trails are sure to reveal a number of cool reptiles, mammals, and many birds (which is what I am interested in). Crabs are very numerous, to the point where if you have a phobia of them, you probably shouldn't come to Curu.

-- Nice views from the overlook on one end of the beach. The estuary is also very cool.

-- Good home-cooked food in the Comedor, and the water was good enough to drink (we didn't get sick, at least)

Our criticisms are pretty harsh, and we think deservedly so. However, the area does have a lot of potential as an ecolodge, and it was clear that the management had been taking steps to improve the faciilites. The beach situation, which most probably is not the fault at all of the Refuge, is a matter that definitely needs to be addressed - we suspect there is some illegal dumping occurring nearby, and tides and currents are bringing this to the beach at the refuge. What made this all the more frustrating was that we had no one on the staff to even talk to about this, and learn more, or anything about it. It was a lonely place, thus our reference to it as creepy. Still, we will go ahead and give it a 'recommend' to a friend, in spite of our review, but just as a day visit, at least until some other brave soul can test it out and see if any improvements are being made.

2  Thank Eric_the_Birdman
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed May 21, 2009

I would recommend a visit to Curú to everyone who travels to the Nicoya Peninsula. Acommodations are very basic, but the beautiful surroundings largely make up for that! There are several trails throughout the refuge where you can see abundant wildlife, especially monkeys. It has a beautiful beach that is virtually empty most of the time and at night you can enjoy the silence, animal sounds and starry skies. Wonderful to get away from it all. But beware of the crocodile!

2  Thank zaguate
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed May 5, 2009

I always use trip advisor to plan my trips so we took a chance on this place based only on Fodor’s commentary. Here is my recap of our stay February 14-16, 2009: Curu’ was the first wildlife refuge in Costa Rica declared in 1983. It is 75 hectares- about 185 acres. It was primarily used for scientists and students and now it is also used for ecotourism. With that in mind, we expected very little. My mindset was to treat it like a camping excursion. It helps to know a little Spanish. The guard at the gate doesn’t speak English and we encountered only a few employees who spoke fluent English. We “checked in” inside the souvenir shop- a small screened in building at the end of the dirt road. The adjacent building contains a few picnic tables= the cafeteria/ dining hall. There are a few other houses in this administration area (where the employees live) and a large active garage. The cabins are stretched along the beachside. Each cabin is slightly different so ask for details when booking your reservation. We were in cabin #3 – It is a basic construction on a cement base, some beams, and a layer of drywall, some light blue paint and louvered glass windows. It was nicer than I thought it would be. We had a tiled shower with an exposed plumbing pipe for the shower head, a toilet and sink – no hot water. There was a main bedroom with a queen bed. The lace curtains were hung with thumbtacks. The other room contained 4 bunk beds. All of the windows had full screens on them which are a huge plus when you sleep in the jungle… none of the other accommodations (during this stay to CR) had screens on every window. So I was thrilled by this luxury… there were no bugs inside the cabin besides ants. However by this point of the trip I had accumulated at least 20 mosquito bites and was bitten about 20 more times during my stay at Curu’– it is about average for me. Even with bug spray, the bugs like my sweet blood. Also I just want to mention that we visited during dry season. I noticed a lot of coconut shells in the jungle that could become a haven for mosquitoes in rainy season. However there are lots of bats at night to eat them so perhaps it is no worse. This place is an eco-gem…. We saw a ton of wildlife. Here is a short list= Green and black Iguanas (3-4 ft long), Howler and Capuchin monkeys, deer, nurse sharks (under the bridge), agouti, lots of birds and butterflies. The trails are well marked and well maintained. Every inch of this place is alive and well. Pura Vida at it’s best!! As for the food - It was typical Tico fare… a modest combination of salad, veggies, fruit, rice and beans, and chicken. No complaints for $6 per person. If you are picky, bring your own food or go to town. Definitely buy a large 5 liter water jug in town before you get to Curu' as they only sell smaller bottles.. Bring a flashlight. It is pitch black at night besides the stars. Our first night, there were a few visitors outside the cabin around the doorframe. I would call them part scorpion -part spider = a 10 on the ‘eeak’ factor- I took a photo and did a thorough search of our entire room before we went to bed. When I returned home I researched the odd looking spider/scorpion and found out that it is a tailless whip scorpion (harmless- featured on Fear factor when the contestants had to eat them- Yuck!) and it belongs to the Arachnid class. Anyway, we had a few candles which made it romantic since it was Valentine’s Day. Being prepared for a place like this makes all the difference between having fun and being miserable. At night, the sounds were loud between the nocturnal creatures and the bugs. Plus the sound of the crashing waves kept waking me and giving me really funky dreams. I could feel the energy of the ocean but my husband and child slept fine.
We woke as the sun rose over the ocean. It was breathtaking. There are about 5 easy trails to hike and two more strenuous hikes that lead you to remote beaches and then you can be picked up by boat if you choose. We did not do the harder hikes since we had a 15 month old baby. We did a few hours of hiking in the morning (she napped in our arms) then we spent the afternoon on the beach. We spent 2 nights here and felt that it was sufficient for us but if you are going to do the harder hikes or maybe go snorkeling, diving, or horseback riding… perhaps stay a 3rd night. The beach was virtually deserted. There is a dive shack on the premises and a few boats near the main building but other than that we were alone. The sand was a dark grey- almost black…. There were tons of red crabs and hermit crabs. There was a lot of debris that had washed up on the beachfront. It was ugly to look at and during my daughter’s afternoon nap with a cup of vino in hand (no alcohol allowed on the premises – wink wink:) I decided to clean our portion of the beach. It felt good to do something about it. “Be the change you want to see”… after all for $40 a night it’s the least I could do to contribute to this place. I wish I had a large black trash bag at that moment…maybe I will add that to my travel packing list…LOL The list is long enough! BTW they have a basic recycling center behind each cabin= very good. Make sure to be clear and double confirm your reservations b/c we spoke to 2 separate guests who had mix ups on date of arrival and departure, etc. (We did not have a problem with this.)

7  Thank Luvitorleaveit
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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