Aninga Lodge

How exciting is a two hour boat journey to get to your lodge hotel? Very, and so beautiful and peaceful. The lodge itself (and its sister lodges) are very low impact and can barely be seen from the water. This is the newest of three, apparently, and you skirt round one of the others when on the walking trail. So, luxurious it is not. The cabins are clean and spacious, but note there is no aircon, fridge, much in the way of toiletries or hairdryer (can be obtained from reception, but they only have 3!) Coffee and water is a collect-it-yourself effort from outside the dining room. You have to cart your own luggage to your cabin and there are 3 quite steep steps up to it. These are observations, not criticisms, but I do wish there had been an info leaflet in the room with meal times, how to operate the safe (with a key, not the buttons). The ceiling fan was effective, although as there were only two speeds - off and full on - it got quite cool in the middle of the night. The little verandah with rocking chairs outside each cabin was lovely. Meals were taken in set groups in a room rather like a school dining hall and food was served accordingly. Absolutely no pretence at presentation, but it did feel home cooked and was surprisingly tasty (although unless you got there at the beginning of the service it was always tepid, which I found to generally be the case in Costa Rica) and which bothered me slightly from a food hygiene aspect. But I suffered no harm! The pool area was beautiful, with an attractive large bar and other seating areas. As it was the end of the dry season, we were blessed with clear, hot sunshine in which to enjoy it. The activities laid on by the hotel were outstanding, and Jorge our guide, in addition to being an excellent organiser of luggage, people, embarcation into the boats etc was an absolute encyclopaedia of wildlife knowledge. This is the strength of this location - the surroundings and the wildlife. To be woken at 0500 with an almighty crash on your roof (spider monkey missing its branch!) and to have a family of them playing in the trees next to you is a privilege indeed. The early morning river trip and the nature walk were wonderful. The excursion to Tortuguero village was better than I anticipated (although it was very, very hot). I took plenty of bug spray and was not bitten once. A torch and some rudimentary Spanish also proved useful.

We stayed at Aninga boutique hotel as part of our tour. Some helpful notes:the rooms have screens only (you can close the curtains) but be prepared to hear the howler monkeys (and the guy coughing next door) lol. There is no shampoo, conditioner or body wash so please bring that with you. The rooms do not have AC but a ceiling fan above. Our stay here was wonderful-the grounds are well maintained and we enjoyed taking walks around. They have a nice pool as well which is next to the bar area. We swam as the monkeys were in the trees above us! The meals here were tasty. They have a buffet where they serve you. We enjoyed our stay! Thank you!

It was excellent! It was literally inside the rainforest! And now I know why it is called a ‘rain’ forest because it did rain a lot! ☔️ Manu different choices of breakfast and the rainforest trail was amazing because we got to see many animals like iguanas and sloths and lizards (sometimes) and there was also often lay MANY monkeys there too. I rate it very well because of the tours they sometimes take you on too. We got to see torteguero village, and the Caribbean ocean, and I thought the trips around the area were amazing!