Tree Climbing

Head to the Treetops in Primary Rainforest

Remember when you were ten years old and you used to practice tree climbing in the old oak tree in the neighbor’s yard? Somewhere along the line, you became a responsible adult and you probably haven’t climbed a tree since, but in Costa Rica, you can intimately experience the rainforest and capture the joy of being a kid again by climbing the trees. The forests have towering patriarchs housing literally thousands of small animals, from ants to giant iguanas and howler monkeys, from diminutive hummingbirds and parakeets to macaws and toucans. Why stay on the ground, looking at the silhouette, when you can see them in brilliant color from above?

Tree Climbing in Costa Rica’s Rainforests

One landowner ordered the heart of his plantation to be left undisturbed to protect the primary forest that grows there. This forest holds more than 200 trees aged 500 years or more, and the vast, cavernous space beneath the canopy still fills with birds flying and the sounds of frogs and insects and lizards and, every once in a while, we find a jaguar print in the mud. This is where we found Abraham and Joseph, two very interesting trees to climb.

It takes ropes and harnesses and some other special tools we’ve developed to allow us to access lots of high trees, and the physical and spiritual rewards are well worth the sweat.

So, come with us into this ethereal world and climb to the branches where the monkey lay about resting, where the birds fly beneath your private perch. Come tree climbing with us.

The Story of Abraham, the Giant Ceiba Tree

Meet Abraham, the granddaddy of this primary forest — an ancient tree more than 400 years old, but still in the peak of health and majesty. Abraham towers more than 150 feet, overlooking our friend’s private primary rainforest not too distant from Arenal volcano. Abraham’s lowest branches stretch out from the trunk 120 feet above the jungle floor.

A Serendipity guest and British naturalist wrote “spending the day in Abraham — that was delicious — like sharing a throne with the god of nature.”

It’s Grand Central Station up here, watching the birds fly through the outreaching branches, landing in treetops below you. Monkeys play and sleep and eat in the branches of just the next tree. Every creature has color when lit from above, and their brilliance is not simply imagined only from seeing their backlit silhouettes. The stable platform is perfect for long-lens cameras on tripods. And when you arrive in Abraham, you can stay all day — watch the sunrise, watch the sunset, watch the daily migration of the birds from nest to food to nest again. The crotch of the tree houses thousands of epiphytes, frogs, even fish — a whole ecosystem living harmoniously within the arms of Abraham. You can peek into this verdant array of flora and fauna as few people in the world have been able to see it. To hear it. To smell it.

Once in Abraham, you have the whole place, and the whole day, to become part of the forest. It’s comfortable up here, with the birds — the breeze sways the other trees, while Abraham sits rock-solid, and you eat lunch while watching the birds.

Don’t believe you can make the climb? Well, we have ways of getting you up there, with some help from your Serendipity leader, and some inventions we’ve made. Heck, we can even get your wheelchair up there, too.

Enter Joseph’s Labyrinth

For the more adventurous travelers, there is Joseph. One of the many fascinating Rainforest stories is how a tiny sprout of Strangler Fig can take over and consume a whole large adult tree; when you visit Joseph you can see the result, and you’re in for a personal challenge!

Joseph’s host tree must have been huge, and there is still a large, hollow “tube” going all the way up the inside of the tree; you will do a free climb (harnessed and with strict safety protocols, of course) from the ground to around 23 meters or 75 feet up near Joseph’s canopy. Along the way there are great views out through “windows” all around the trunk, and you might make some new friends (bats, lizards, snakes…)!

In the rainforest, most of the life is not to be found at ground level, but up in the treetops, and the best way to observe the biodiversity of animals and plants is to be up there with them. Joseph stands as part of a very large tract of primary rainforest, so there are great chances of spotting wildlife and appreciating the exuberant growth all around.

How can include Tree Climbing in my Costa Rica Vacation?

Our ceiba tree and strangler tree are located about 3 hours from San José, in the Arenal area, in an amazing primary rainforest. There’s no better way to practice tree climbing than with your Serendipity team below and above you, to give you all the encouragement (and way too much advice) on how to do it. This is NOT a matter of strength, except the mental kind.

Have a look at our sample itineraries of private holidays for examples of how tree climbing can be integrated into your custom Costa Rican vacation.