Rainforest Tours Programs in Costa Rica

My son participated in a program with Rustic Pathways in Costa Rica last year, and it was an incredibly positive experience for both him and our family. The counselors updates, looking at the photos and videos gave me a great sense of comfort and connection. He was able to keep his phone, so we stayed in touch throughout the trip. Hearing how happy and even on days focused on community service validated that I chose the right camp. The program was a wonderful balance between meaningful work and fun. He is super excited to go on a trip this year to Belize My son returned home more independent, and inspired to continue to connect with many cultures and see the world.

Rustic Pathways responded to this reviewJune 02, 2026

Thanks so much for your comment, Susie! We're thrilled your son had such a great experience! We love hearing about their transformation post-trip. We hope he joins us for another awesome summer soon :)

The course allowed me to build up technical and jungle specific skills whilst embracing and enjoying the jungle environment. The breadth of activities was great and it means I feel I’m leaving with a broader understanding on not just outdoor based skills such as kayaking and starting fires but also leadership qualities and the realities of managing a big team effectively in difficult environments. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I had such a good time whilst also learning a lot about myself.

This course is a wonderful blend of leadership training, travel organization training, and technical wilderness skills. You start out in Wales where you engage in mountain leader skills, then you move on the Costa Rica where you spend the majority of the course. The Costa Rican portion consists of a nice blend of jungle trekking, navigation, activity based leadership (ziplining, biking, kayaking, etc), and general cultural immersion. I would highly recommend this course for anybody who is exceptionally adventurous and wants to break into the outdoor industry as an expedition leader.

A good basic introduction to adventure travel leadership. It covers a wide range of topics including theory based workshops as well as practical information and outdoor skills such as jungle and medical training

A Greta course with a really good balance of practical and theory based content. To be in Costa Rica was a great experience. The instructors were knowledgeable, supportive and friendly throughout. I’d recommend the course to anyone.

An action-packed course where you learn to become a competent leader and outdoors person. During this course you try your hand at nearly every outdoor activity. The course and leaders guide you through lots of helping leadership and mindset workshops which help you progress as a leader.

A really unique experience that I doubt you would find anywhere else ! For me I was attracted to this course because of the job opportunity at the end of the course. I was looking for a change in career path and this course provided everything I was looking for. Now that I've finished the course I can definitely say it didn't disappoint. I learnt a lot about leadership and developed my people skills. Not everyone was interested in a job at the end and just did the course for the experience. It was great to see the change in character of some people over the course. Especially the increased confidence in the younger ones !

The Gapforce Expedition leader training is a great adventure and an entry into the outdoor industry for those wanting this. The leader training is mainly focused on leading groups of young people aged 18-25 on long duration trips around the world. If you are looking for Jungle survival skills, leadership training, adventure, team spirit and general adventure this course is a good place to start! Extract of a letter to home: ---------------------------------------------------------------- “we have spent some incredible time with the Bri Bri tribe and gathered all the info we could. Really interesting! Build with Vines, Made spears & bow and Arrow, Learned Friction fire, Animal snares, a thousand types of animals and plants. We were on night fishing / hunting with Mynor (Bri Bri ) and caught Crabs and crayfish. The jungle have started to feel like a “Forest instead of an Alien and totally overwhelming place. I get up every morning to the sound of howler monkeys, shake my boots for spiders and scorpions. I lift my backpack to se if a snake has made a home under it. After that, I put on my wet work Clothes and prepare for another day. It sounds dangerous and alien and it feels like that in the beginning, but the truth is that you “Tune in” and that the nature here is mostly friendly. I observe tarantulas and see them more like you would see a forest mouse in a European forest – notice how is runs away and is afraid of me. I enjoy the sight of unbelievably beautiful poisonous frogs and all the other stuff here. There lived a sloth next to one of our camps – I call him Alfred :D There is a lot to write! , bullfrogs the size of a rabbit, turtles crabs, parrots, Tapirs, 100 spiders and snakes etc. That being said, there are plenty of challenges here and this is a rough environment to be in. I have started to eat 300-400g of peanut butter a day to maintain my weight somewhat, but despite that I would recon that I have lost 5-10 kg of weight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Can only recommend the training: Pack your bags and go into the jungle :)

This was one of the most challenging, adventurous and fun experiences I've ever had. I learned so much about myself and developed so much as a person and as a leader. The instructors were fantastic - being incredible supportive throughout the programme, helping each person work towards their goals, challenging us in every way we needed and brought learning to life. The activities and training were great, tailored to what the outdoor industry is like today, and giving us to many unique experiences. I had so much fun every single day, worked with a diverse and inspiring team of people and so inspired to enable others to experience the outdoors in the best way possible.

The staff of Gapforce was really well prepared and friendly throughout the full length of this 4-month course. I have learned a variety of new skills and handicrafts and was able to immerse myself in the indigenous Bribri tribe.

Outward Bound Costa will without a doubt be one of the most challenging things you will ever do but you will meet the most amazing people and achieve things that felt unachievable. My favourite thing about OBCR was the people I met, not only did I make some great friends in my group but also the local people we met along the way who made it so special. It could be laughing with Kenneth an instructor, listening to Santiago tell you about the man who fought off a Puma, Swimming with Jefferey the Kayaker, Holding Goat Man Ricks new baby goat, talking to the hosts at the home-stays or making burritos with Samuel the chef, there are always people with something to teach you or tell you. I went on the trek course and there is no denying that it is challenging, I would advise being in reasonable shape because it will make it easier but whatever your fitness level you will complete it. It's one of those things you wish you had a choice about in the moment but afterwards your glad you didn't because you know you would have backed out. As hard as the mornings of hiking were the afternoons in the tarp are some of my funniest memories. When I refer to the tarp I mean the two massive pieces of tarpaulin that form a group tent during the trek. Sleeping packed in like sardines is a great ice-breaker and I learnt more new card games than I thought existed. I think you should go on outward bound just to experience the feeling of joy you get when a comfort that you haven't had in a long time comes back. I have never had a shower as good as the one I took at the first homestay, the water was freezing and I had limited toiletries but it felt amazing. Even walking without the weight of a backpack is a joy on trek. I cannot explain to you the excitement and anticipation about getting our suitcases back when we got back to base which had our clean clothes in. The weirdest experience from trek was definitely the third day. It started off great, the views were spectacular, there was a lot less uphill than yesterday, it was all looking good. Then the rain came. I cannot put into words how wet we all were, jogging down paths that had turned to rivers, wading through mud, giving up on rain jackets (they made no difference by that point), hoping desperately to reach the promised campsite. When we'd eventually set up camp (the rain was still going) we call crawled into the tarp, stripped off our wet clothes and just sat there for about half an hour. No one new what to do, everything was soaked, but I remember just laughing hysterically with some others from the group just trying to process the absurdity of the situation. After that we could all confidently say, it doesn't get any worse. While this may sound like a negative thing outward bound will push you to breaking point, but after that you will feel like you can literally do anything and that is the best feeling in the world. (Don't worry we also had relaxing beach days and fun activities like zip-lining it's not all pain.) Highly recommend!

Outward Bound Costa Rica responded to this reviewSeptember 19, 2022

Keira, thank you so much for sharing your story here! You've truly embraced the spirit of Outward Bound & we're so proud of what you accomplished. Come back and see us soon!

I did a summer course at OBCR (tropical trek) and it was a culturally enriching experience. I was able to practice my Spanish speaking skills with my instructors and have a blast with my coursemates. The hikes were physically grueling and I would advise being physically able to handle uphills and downhills with a heavy pack. The course itinerary was great and had a healthy mix of cool activities with educational ones. I recommend!!

Outward Bound Costa Rica responded to this reviewAugust 11, 2022

So glad you had a culturally enriching experience here with us! We appreciate your recommendation – come back to Costa Rica soon.

First off I have a lot more confidence in myself. The jungle is the hardest environment on earth. There is a reason why the special forces train in the jungle. Gapforce agrees with me, if you can lead groups in the jungle then you can do that everywhere on our planet. After this course there is the feeling that you can handle everything everywhere. I always had the spirit of adventure and a small dream to travel to beautiful remote places, but I had no idea where to start and where to learn the essential skills of planning, surviving and taking a group with you. Either as work or as your own expedition with mates. I also learned medical stuff. I was never a fan of medical procedures and I didn't know anything about it. But during this course I learned a lot of medical procedures and I liked it. I know now how to set up an evacuation, give CPR and how to handle an emergency. Before this course I never thought of risk assessments and how to keep people safe. Now everywhere I go I think of emergency scenarios and how to fix them. It is a little bit like a mind puzzle. I enjoy that very much and it makes you feel like you're prepared on anything. I learned a lot but it doesn't mean that there weren't any fun things. For example we had a barbecue and during a volunteer project I measured a leatherback turtle and reburied its eggs to protect them from poachers. We visited a local tribal Bribri village and we did a 7 days trekking through untouched jungle. To get the most out of this course I would recommend already having the basic lead/survival skills but even without it you can make it and end up working as a expedition guide. It is important to know that this course is focused on training you to become a expedition leader. This is more of a training course then a adventure course.

This trip has made me a better person. It makes you go out of your comfort zone in ways you didn’t know you could and now I know I can do more fun things like this in the future. You meet so many new people, you learn about so many new things and you try amazing stuff!

Outward Bound Costa Rica responded to this reviewAugust 11, 2022

Olivia, we're so glad you're leaving Costa Rica as a better person. It was an honor to have you on course with us! Come back and see us again soon.

This was an amazing experience. I had a lot of fun. Our guides were really great, and I made so many wonderful new friends. I especially loved the waterfall rappelling and zip lining. I would go again in a heartbeat!

Outward Bound Costa Rica responded to this reviewJuly 28, 2022

Thanks for the kind words about our guides, Sofia! We're so glad you had an amazing time. Come back and see us again soon!

I‘m an experienced Survival Expert and Outdoor guide from Germany but I thought there’s always something to learn and I wanted to get more experience in leading groups through the jungle and getting a good fundamental mountain leader training from a british company. The GapForce ELT program seemed to be perfect for me, because of it’s adventurous content and schedule. What I got and experienced was really good. We did many day hikes through the mountains in Wales with navigation, rope work like abseiling and much more. And we also spent many many times in the jungle in Costa Rica. That helped me to develop my skills and behavior in the jungle a lot. We‘ve seen fantastic places, gorges, hills, mountains, a lot of wildlife and also bad wet weather. The instructor are very nice, helpful and experienced in what they doing and they gaved me everything I‘ve wanted from this course. We did a lot of river crossings, water safety and some rope work too. There’s also a big part of wilderness and survival training wich was also a reason, that this is the right thing for me. We did the jungle training in many different camps with different conditions wich is really good to get as much experience as possible. There was also a lot of theory content in terms of safety, leadership, presentation etc. included to help beginners becoming a leader and organizing and leading trips. Really good to get into this industry. It’s also good to prove yourself and get a better life experience. Over all I was able to gather many knowledge and skills that I can use for my private expeditions or for my company. But this is not a holiday trip! You should be fit, healthy and tough and bring some outdoor and life experience to get the best out of this incredible journey!

The ELT program was amazing and such a good experience. The biggest thing I got out of it for me was the confidence in my own abilities to start planning work straight away. The course is structured to provide a progressive program, developing your skills (both personal and leadership) constantly. The first few weeks in Wales were great to meet the team, climb some mountains and form friendships. The pace and intensity picked up when we got to Costa Rica and straight into the jungle. The instructors were great at making us feel as comfortable as possible and you do get used to living in a jungle environment quickly. The endless animals and plants is beautiful and there are some really amazing sights and sounds you’ll see every single day. Belt-kit and survival challenge tested our skills but also developed them and our confidence even further. For me, the highlight of the course came during the survival challenge. During this, my team ended up making a huge five person bed out of vines which was incredibly comfortable. After several nights of sleeping on that, it was time to leave the jungle…but our way of doing it. We trekked down the river, past incredible waterfalls and through a lot of obstacles. We kept on trekking through the river until it got too deep. At that point, we swam, using our massive 75L+ rucksacks as floats. We ended up following the river down to the beach and seeing the astounded look on the tourists faces as we emerged from the jungle absolutely soaked and stinking was priceless. I highly recommend the course, you will develop your skills and confidence way above what you thought was possible!

This course was the most amazing experience. The chance to live in the jungle, learn from indigenous folk and learn important life skills is priceless and an opportunity most of us will never have again. Over the past 4 months I have become a more confident, well-rounded and employable person, enjoying every second of it. The staff are supportive and are passionate about what they do. If you want into the adventure travel industry, this is your chance! Gain skills, memories and friends for life!

Traveling to Costa Rica was the first time I had been abroad since the pandemic began. The combination of physically challenging days punctuated by the thrills of activities, the joy of acquiring new knowledge and the entertainment of building a close knit community of people along the way was the perfect set of experiences to get me into interacting with the wider world and new people.

Great personal growth experience. Loved the staff and the group of kids. created lasting bonds. would love to come back again or even lead a trip in the future. came out more self aware and ready to take on school

Outward Bound Costa Rica responded to this reviewAugust 26, 2021

Thank you so much for this review, we're so glad that it was such a valuable personal growth experience!