Activities

Venado Caves - A One of a Kind Adventure

By info ⋅ February 25, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

I had the pleasure (if someone can call it that) of exploring the Venado caves of Costa Rica. Located about an hour from Arenal volcano, the Venado caves were created about 15 to 20 million years ago. They spent most of their existence under water until they surfaced due to tectonic activity. This activity just may be the most unique activity in all of Costa Rica. For those who are thinking of going I highly advise you read about my personal experience.

My friend and I got picked up at our hotel early in the morning and headed out to the Venado caves. Now I must admit there were warnings given to us by the activity provider that read ¨if you are afraid of six inch spiders or are claustrophobic this activity is not for you¨ Afterwards I realized no warning could prepare me for this place. We were told to wear rubber boots and a poncho along with a hard hat, flashlight, and air filter to place over our months due to the amazing foul and potent smell of stagnant bat manure.

Our guides were great, as they took us deep into the caves. I could see thousands (yes, thousands) of bats as many of them flew right by my head. It was an unreal sight, straight out of a batman movie to see so many. We were led through many difficult paths, but none as difficult as the tunnel section. This was basically a two foot wide tunnel that ran for about 10 meters that required us to squeeze through on our hands and knees with our flashlight in our mouth and the nasty water running into our boots and soaking our pants and shirts. At this point one of the guys from our group actually lost his cool and said he had enough. Unfortunately for him there was no where to go but back.

Costa Rican guides like to tell jokes, and lots of them. In fact, I heard the best joke with these two guides who told us to look high and notice the light coming in. They followed that comment by telling us that the light coming in was actually our exit. HA! I actually laughed out loud, until they assured us they were not joking, it was going to be our exit. So here we were, climbing massive rock formations and helping one another reach the top. It made me feel like I was in an action movie.

So did I enjoy this activity? Absolutely! Would I do it again? Never! This is the type of activity that is amazing to do once, but is only suitable for those who really know what they are getting into. So do you think these caves are for you as well?