La Fortuna Night Walk at El Silencio: Wild Forest, No Enclosures

The distinction the operator draws is worth taking seriously: this is a 100% natural setting, not a controlled one. The animals live free, nothing is kept, and what turns up changes from one night to the next. Some evenings are better than others. The walk covers the trails at Mirador El Silencio, at the base of Arenal, with an expert naturalist guide. It is the only authentic night hike run inside the rainforest here, and the operator is the only local company certified as Family & Kids Friendly, so children can come along. What the guide is looking for: hourglass frogs, Blue Jeans frogs and the red-eyed frog that ends up on every poster of Costa Rica. Exotic insects, reptiles and snakes are all possible. With luck, mammals as well, sloths or possums or anteaters. Closed shoes are essential, and that one is not negotiable on a trail at night.