4 Things to know about the Rainforest Canopy Tours… If you are afraid of heights!
It depends on your degree of fear… As if fear degrees existed… ha!
Buena Vista Canopy & Natural Spa Tour
Let’s put it like this… If you are afraid of heights… Do it!
You will enjoy the flight, feel afraid on the platforms and every time you are about to go on the cable… But it is a wonderful experience. The views are amazing, and the sensation of flight is superb… However….
However, If by any chance you are terrified of heights… Don’t do it.
You will feel miserable and will not enjoy it whatsoever. It is YOUR vacation after all, and you are supposed to be happy at all times.
I have been both… I have always been afraid of heights, but because of my job as a tour guide and because after all, I have always been a bit of an adventurer I did it… I enjoyed it every time I did it.
But as I grew older my fear of heights grew with me, and I started to feel miserable whenever I had to go with the passengers up on a canopy tour… Up to a day, half of my group stepped out when they saw my terror face. That day, I knew that it was the last time on a canopy tour.
However, it is important for you to know certain things that may push you to enjoy the ride…
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1. Canopy Tours are extremely safe.
Have we had accidents? Yes… like cars have many more accidents.
There have been accidents mainly due to the passenger’s irresponsibility or lack of attention when the instructions were given.
Please whenever the instructions are given at the beginning of the tour, pay attention.
If you don’t understand what the guides are saying (Because sometimes their English is not perfect) please say it. Tell you own guide or ask them to repeat whatever you didn’t understand, but make sure you understand the instructions well.
The zip lines, the harnesses and all the gear are made to support several tons of weight.
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What about weight?
Canopy Tour
If you feel you are over or under weight, please ask your travel agent about it.
In the case of overweight, there are special chest harnesses that help the waist harnesses.
If you are underweight, or a small child goes with you, also inform your travel agent.
Usually, if there is less weight they have to take the person with a guide (They call it taxi).
This is important because if weight is not enough, the person may get stuck on the cable and not get to the platform. What happens then is that you have to pull yourself to the platform. Or the guide comes to you and get you.
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Do we ever get to put the feet on the ground?
In mostly all canopy tours the start is on the ground. On a platform that is built on a hill. However in some of them, you have to climb a stairway to get to the first platform.
From there, usually, the tour goes through two or three platforms and short cables, for you to try and get acquainted with the tour.
And from there you get on the regular zip lines. (The usual cables are 65-200 feet long). Again in mostly all canopy tours, the tour goes from tree to tree, a walk on a trail, back to a platform and again tree to tree.
San Luis Canopy Tour
- What about the Tarzan Swing and the Superman Cable?
Superman cable
Both are optional; I have done the Tarzan Swing, once… just once! Ha!
It is self-explanatory and thrilling!
And the superman cable is a whole body harness, and you hang from your back, leaving the hands free, and with nothing between you and the incredible rainforest landscape.
As I said, I am terrified of heights… But the superman cable. Oh, My Gosh! I love that! … I cannot explain it, but I am not the only one that doesn’t feel terror in the superman cable… Try it! It’s worth it!
It’s important to say that rainforests canopy tours began in Costa Rica in the eighties when biologists were researching life above the jungle floor ( Biologist Donald Perry was the one that started them when writing a book precisely called like that “Life above the jungle floor“).
These experiences are available all over Costa Rica, wherever you are you can find one. Ask our travel consultants about it and they will find which is more convenient for you!
Written by Olga Sáenz-Carbonell for Camino Travel