Night Tour at Quality Trail
Overview
This magical guided hike into the Monteverde Wildlife Refuge is sure to bring a thrill when you suddenly discover the world of nocturnal nightlife. This is a one mile hike along an easy trail to observe the active wildlife in the unique cloud forest environment. Your knowledgeable local guide will take you to the places with the most recent animal sightings.
The tour will begin when you are picked up from your lodging in the Monteverde area by the provided transportation and brought to the cloud forest park. Equipped with headlamp, binoculars and flashlights, your guide will lead you into the ancient woodlands of towering trees to explore what might be lurking there.
Because animals who live in the forest are more active at night this is a perfect opportunity to find them foraging for food or dancing under the moonlight! Together you and your guide will silently seek a variety of wildlife including insects, birds, reptiles, spiders, sleeping birds, interesting frogs and mammals.
You may encounter the glowing eyes of a spider reflecting the light of a flashlight. Or one of Monteverde’s 71 species of snakes. Typically it is easy to find a bird sleeping up in the branches with its head tucked under its wing. Undisturbed by the light, sleeping birds are stationary giving you a chance to observe the identifying markings and colors on their wings.
Of course you’ll want to find a furry friend of some sort. Sloths, notoriously slow and irresistibly cute, lumber limb by limb through their home in the tree tops feasting on leaves. Other possible animal sightings include coatimundis and kinkajous. On rare occasions one of the six species of jungle cats has been spotted at night.
Every hike creates a brand new list of sightings. There are no guarantees you will see a particular species of wildlife, but you will see a variety of wildlife that is available on the particular night you are out observing. Be sure to bring your camera. Just being outdoors deep in the tropical cloud forest cover at night is an amazing experience.
When the approximately two hour hike ends, you’ll be brought back to your lodging where you began. This tour includes transportation, park entrance, and naturalist guide.
What to Bring
- Insect Repellent
- Camera
- Close Toed Shoes
- And Rain Gear
Location and Availability
The Night Tour at Quality Trail is available from Monteverde
Tour Time
- 6:00pm
Tour Type
- Nature
- Learning Family
Cancellation Policy
Recommended Ages
All Ages
Location
Latitude: N 10° 18' 50.39"
Longitude: W 84° 49' 38.83"
Reviews
- Overall 86.8% (94 Guest Ratings)
- Experience: 84.3%
- Expectations: 83.1%
- Guides: 90.1%
- Logistics: 89.7%
- Value: 84.9%
07/24/2023
Night tour was good. We saw several creatures but no frogs! The guides all communicate to share locations of animals, busy-ish with several groups.
07/01/2023
It was raining (no fault of the Quality Trail staff). We just didn't get to see as much as we would have liked. Our tour guide tried his best though!
04/13/2023
This tour was great. I think the guide was what made it so enjoyable. We would give him 20 stars.
03/08/2023
Our guide was new and he did great!
01/22/2023
Great guide. Lots of fun even in slight rain. A neat experience.
01/05/2023
This was fun - and the guide was very knowledgeable
06/19/2022
Got to see lots of animals including pit vipers and tarantula
05/18/2022
Not too many mammals. Mainly insects
01/05/2022
Slightly below what I expected though maybe not all animals were available to be seen.
12/08/2021
Loved this tour. How the guides manage to see things in the dark is beyond me but it was well worth it.
07/21/2021
Guide was super knowledgeable
12/13/2020
didn't see very many animals
03/09/2020
We were disappointed by this tour for a number of reasons. First, it did not seem well organized. Second, the tour guide was nowhere near the quality of the others we had up to this point. Third, we felt that the guide did not respect the wildlife as other guides had been including continually shining lights on sleeping birds and repeatedly trying to coax a tarantula out by poking a stick in it's nest. It stood out because we were impressed with all the other tours and guides.
02/21/2020
That night is was raining a little with high winds so we really did not see any animals worth talking about.
02/12/2020
Great night tour through through the woods. We got to see leaf cutter ants, tarantulas, humming birds sleeping, and amazing night sky.
01/15/2020
Really saw nothing.
12/31/2019
Knowledgable and friendly guide, but a little underwhelming after seeing other wildlife during the day tours.
11/28/2019
We happened to do this during a tropical storm. We got really wet, but our guide Giovanni was fantastic.
11/25/2019
Guide was horrible. Spoke while walking and facing forward. Couldn't hear or understand. Failed to wait for the entire group to see item before he moved on.
11/04/2019
This was an interesting tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly, though his English was sometimes difficult to understand (good vocabulary; his accent was just a little thick).
07/02/2019
It rained and we didn’t see much.
06/06/2019
The guide was very informative and educational. We were hoping to see more mammals for the hike but certainly understand it is beyond the control of the group.
04/19/2019
Excellent guide she really new how to communicate and find animals it was pouring rain and she found lots to see
04/08/2019
Saw so many animals including an active sloth, worth the money!
03/27/2019
The guide and logistics were great - it was a bit of a cool breezy night so we did not see much for wildlife but it was still a good experience,.
02/20/2019
Again, very knowledgable, friendly, professional guide. Again, sardine van, too many people.
12/30/2018
This tour exceeded our expectations. The guide "Jesus" was one of the most knowledgeable guides and we were amazed at his ability to allow the group to become part of nature and integrate ourselves with the animals/and insects etc. He was extremely engaging and literally knew where every creature resided. We managed to see a lateral striped Pit Viper too, highlight for us. He also explained the entire eco-system and how it works in the rainforest. by showing them live as examples
12/29/2018
Very pleased. Nature was good to us.
04/13/2017
Guide was a encyclopedia of information and was very excited about the wild life and sharing information, very engaging! Unfortunately we didn't see the sloth until the end of the tour and didn't have enough time to really observe it. Would have been better if the guide had a scope like the Manuel Antonio guided so we could see the critters better and get photos.
02/28/2017
Disorganized upon arrival. Our guide (there were several so can only speak for ours, I do not remember his name, from SanJose with excellent English) was good at finding the animals and was knowledgeable but not very personable, like he did not care and wanted to be somewhere else. was very hurried at the end for us to leave and give him the flashlights, I would not redo this tour with that company.
02/22/2017
This tour exceeded our expectations. We saw aardvark, honey bear, viper snakes, porcupine, tarantula, leaf cutter ants and more. 70% of the animals in the jungle come out at night. These guides know where to see them. One of the highlights of the trip for kids who want to see wildlife.
07/05/2016
it was awesome. we were all scared at first, we really like the night tour.
07/29/2015
Our guide was good, but we didn't see a whole lot. It was pouring rain and windy, so the smart animals were hiding!
04/12/2015
Not much to see, wouldn't recommend. The guide was excellent, however.
02/25/2015
Not quite as good as the night tour at Arenal Oasis, somehow felt less wild, mainly because we could see lights of other groups.
02/05/2015
Fun tour. The guide was knowledgeable and was able to show us many animals.
12/01/2014
Very knowledgable and friendly guides.