What it was like ziplining in the cloud forest of Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a thrill-seeker's paradise. I'm not exactly a thrill-seeker, but I like to try new things and I absolutely love ziplining, so I jumped at the chance to try it in the beautiful cloud forest. The cloud forest is located high up in the mountains of Costa Rica, and the view over the rain forest and the mountains is absolutely stunning. We booked the activity through Red Lava Tours while we were in La Fortuna which allowed us to have a pretty good deal since we booked more than one tour with them, but the activity itself was with 100% Aventura and cost 50 US$ per person. 100% Aventura is located in Monte Verde and offers many activities like horseback riding and ATV tours, but their main activity is the Canopy Tour, which has the longest Superman zipline in Latin America. A full mile of flying over the rain forest face first!

The canopy tour starts with hanging bridges and a few small ziplines in the middle of the trees. There are employees on every platform that lift you up to attach you to the security ropes of every activity. Once you are comfortable with the height, the ziplines start getting longer and you pass over a valley and have a beautiful view over the mountains and the rain forest. We were a pretty small group and never had to wait for more than a few seconds between each zipline. Barely enough time to catch our breath and realize what an amazing experience it was.

When our tour started, the weather was beautiful, but as the afternoon went on, it started to get cloudy and to rain a little. While we were bummed at first about this, we changed our minds very quickly when the rainbows appeared. There seemed to be a new one appearing just for us at every turn. Did you know that from the sky, rainbows can appear in 360 degrees? I had no idea, but while we were ziplining, if we looked under us at the forest beneath our feet, there it was. A full circle rainbow! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes and then confirmed with my friend that I had not hallucinated, I would not have believed it! So what was already a fun and exhilarating experience, turned out to be completely magical. And after the ziplining came the superman. There are three in total and so long that you are flying for about a minute before arriving on the other side of the valley. This activity just kept getting better and better!

Like I said earlier, I love ziplining. I am not scared of heights and find the feeling of flying to be fun and invigorating. So the superman zipline, it was amazing for me! It felt like being a bird and soaring through the skies. I could see everything! What I did not know though, was that the tour also included a tarzan swing. For those of you who don't know what a tarzan swing is, it's pretty much like a bunjee except you are attached by the waist instead of your feet and you basically fall down and then swing like you were holding a liana like Tarzan. When I said I'm not afraid of heights, I didn't mean that I'm not afraid of falling only attached by a rope. So of course I could have decided not to do it and walk down, but my friend has bunjee jumped before and kept telling me it's not that bad so I gathered all my courage and walked the plank to the edge where they tied me to the rope and pushed me down because I was too afraid to jump. I can now say it was scarier to look at it from the platform than the actual fall. You don't have time to think while you are falling and then you are swinging in the rain forest and that was so worth it. It's such and adrenaline rush and then you gently swing to the ground. Even though I was terrified and still would be if I went back today because the platform is very high, I would totally do it again!

All things considered, it was an amazing experience that I would recommend to everyone. The view was absolutely fantastic and the employees were so nice and seemed to be having a lot of fun. The whole thing is well organized. There are employees at every platform to help you out and they come get you with ATVs at the end of the route to bring you back to the entrance. They can also pick you up at your hotel. They provide the harness and helmet as well as protective gloves. We made a detour to go to Monte Verde just for this and I do not regret it! It was totally worth it!

Would you try it?

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