The only way to reach Costa Rica’s Jungle Lodge in the Tortuguero National Park on the Caribbean coast is by river launch, which takes you on a two hour journey right into the heart of dense rainforest. We were warned not to dangle our hands in the water - crocodiles are lurking. Howler monkeys serenade your arrival at the lodge, a charming and comfortable one storey wooden affair with long trellised veranda. The purpose of the overhanging roof was explained when a hammering tropical downpour woke us at 5am. Doors opened and one by one we guests abandoned sleep and enjoyed the warm rain together in the swimming pool. My daughter will always remember the jungle walk where two people’s shoes squelched off in the mud (they do lend you wellies), tiny green frogs that sat on her hand, and the boa constrictor in a tree. My favourite was the 'just after dawn' silent boat rides where our guide pointed out iguanas on the bank, spider monkeys and toucans high overhead in the jungle canopy. The richness of the exuberant foliage around the lodge itself was overwhelming, and just sitting around the pool or watching butterflies from the veranda was enough to experience the jungle and its creatures, barely restrained on all sides.
www.anywherecostarica.com/destinations/tortuguero-costa-rica/hotels/tortuguero-jungle-lodge
Tortuguero, 26-1017, Costa Rica - 223 1200
Google map: tinyurl.com/ycg2zlr
La Sombra is an eco lodge up in the Bosawas, three hours drive north of Matagalpa. It is a three storey wooden lodge with views from the hammock on the balcony over the mist covered forest. $30 per person per day gives three home cooked meals, twice daily guided hikes over the property's beautiful coffee plantation and forest and waterfalls. The lodge produces its own coffee which we were given a bag of as we left. The people who run it are lovely (no English spoken) and the place is relaxed with no phone, no TV and just a few board games to play - fantastic. The drive up goes along potholed roads through fantastic forests up to La Dalia from Matagalpa for three hours and then the drive then gets really gets hard going. Wonderful place
www.lasombraecolodge.com
A 177 km de Managua, Tuma - La Dalia, Matagalpa, Nicaragua
(505)455 3732