Eco Experiences

Arrive in Managua. We will meet you on arrival at the Managua International Airport to transfer to Montibelli Private Nature Reserve, 30 minutes from Managua.  Spread over 160 hectares, Montibelli is an award-winning sustainable tourism project on whose protected land more than 155 bird species have been recorded, including manakins, motmots (the national bird), oropendolas, trogons, tanagers, toucans, woodpeckers and hummingbirds. You’re also likely to spot an impressive array of butterflies and howler monkeys, and the reserve produces its own fruits and vegetable, grown organically.  Today enjoy an afternoon trail walk with your guide.

• Lunch & Dinner included
• Overnight at  Montibelli Lodge.

Take an early morning bird watching tour. Then after breakfast, visit the Farm, where you will see how pineapple, rice and avocado are grown by the local family, who also serve us curds and tortillas.  After lunch, we visit the Chocoyero Reserve to follow several trails through different vegetation levels. While the reserve hosts dozens of bird species, it is famous for its “chocoyos,” green parakeets that nest right next to a waterfall. In the late afternoon, you transfer to Granada,  On arrival, transfer from the pier by small boat (20 minutes) to the Jicaro Island Ecolodge, built with care, luxury and sustainability on a private island among the “Granada Isletas.” When you are not touring, here at Jicaro you will savor authentic cuisine, relax in a luxury casita, revitalize at the wellness center, experience a special private-island getaway.

• Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included Overnight at Jicaro Island Ecolodge.

Today get ready for a full day of different experiences.  First you explore colonial Granada, by horse drawn carriage down narrow cobbled streets and past historic churches and colorful cafes. On foot, you’ll visit La Merced Church and the superb Convento San Francisco, part of which is now a museum exhibiting mysterious stone carvings and idols made worshiped by pre-Columbian people; here also is an impressive collection of ancient sculptures, once objects of religious worship. You then switch to boat to cruise by boat through Las Isletas, close-by little islands, popular with bird watchers, that float on Lake Nicaragua. After lunch, you will visit the Masaya Volcano Park, established in 1979 as the first national park the country. Your local guide will introduce you to the wonders of the Masaya Volcano, following the trails around the Santiago crater—active since 1946 and indeed you will look into the crater itself.  Next stop is the famous Masaya Market, a grand emporium of local arts—primitive paintings and sculpture– and artisanal crafts.   Return to Granada in time for sunset cocktails on your hotel terrace.

• Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included Overnight at Jicaro Island Ecolodge.

After breakfast, we will drive to the top of the peak at Mombacho Volcano National Reserve where you take a moderately difficult hike along the mountain trails, in the company of a local guide, who knows well the flora and fauna of the highland ecosystem and the history of the people who occupied this stunning environment.  Weather permitting, you’ll have a panoramic view of Granada below giant Lake Nicaragua and the coastal plains of the Pacific Ocean. You’ll also have a chance to enjoy a cup of coffee and snacks at the biological station, before heading back down to Granada. The rest of the afternoon and evening are at leisure to explore Granada on your own or enjoy your final evening at the hotel. (boat transport is readily available between the two most hours.)

• Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included Overnight at: Jicaro Island Ecolodge.

After breakfast we will transfer you to the Managua Airport for a short flight to San Carlos.  A local guide will be waiting to assist you during the transfer to the motorboat and the onward ride across Lake Nicaragua to the Solentiname Archipelago.  After lunch, your guide will accompany you on an afternoon tour of the main Islands, settled in 1970 by Ernesto Cardenal —priest, poet and a former Nicaraguan minister of culture.  He was accompanied by a group of fishermen and country folk, who, under his leadership and guidance, began to paint.  There work turned into a painting school that became known as Escuela Primitivista de Solentiname. Their primitive paintings and balsa wood carvings are distinctive, gaining attention and sales worldwide.  Your accommodations are on San Fernando Island, one of 37 islands in the archipelago.

• Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included Overnight at Cabanas Paraiso

After breakfast, we board our boat to Los Guatuzos refuge, one of the most beautiful and wildlife-packed parks in Central America.   Made up of 170 sq. miles of lush wetland and fed by 13 rivers, it is located on the southwest should of Lake Nicaragua at the mouth of the San Juan River. On a two-hour hike, you will find birds galore—spoonbills, storks, egrets, parrots and five species of kingfishers— and meet howler, white-face and spider monkey, spot caimans, turtles and iguanas bathing in the sun along the rivers’ shores, sloths hanging out in the trees. Transfer to San Carlos, have lunch at a local restaurant, then take another boat to El Castillo Town.  Of course during the trips down the Rio San Juan, there will be more monkeys, and migrating birds such as eagles, falcons, blue jays, herons and more. Your river journey ends at El Castillo Town where you visit El Castillo, the Spanish for that reminds us how important river was as a gateway between Europe and Central America; the fortress was built to deter marauding pirates en route to raiding prosperous Granada. An onsite museum documents the fort’s swashbuckling heritage.  In the evening, take to a small boat for a caiman tour on the river, then enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

• Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included Overnight at Hotel Luna del Río

This morning we head out to explore the Indio Maiz Reserve, which is dedicated to the preservation of and research on it biological diversity. The reserve begins at the convergence of Rio Bartola and Rio San Juan.  The forest and river life we hope to see includes tapir, manatee, harpy eagle, green limpet, sawfish,   American crocodile—and with great luck, a jaguar.  Following a picnic lunch on the banks of the Bartola River, we continue to the Cacao community, made up of eight families that live from cacao production, who will tell you all about how cacao is grown and gathered, and how it is used in the homes. End this visit with a cooking lesson on how to prepare the best cacao drink, then sampled with tortillas.

• Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included
• Overnight at Hotel Luna del Río.

You leave after breakfast by boat to the San Carlos pier, and continue with guide and car to Managua—a scenic five-hour drive—where, just outside the capital, you will check into the d’Santos Boutique Hotel, located in the Concepion de Maria’s Certified Private Wildlife Reserve, fulfilling the tasks of wildlife reforestation, safeguarding the habitat of endemic species, and providing aquifer protection that ensures water filtration supply for the town of Dolores in the department of Carazo.  As part of this authentic ecotourism success story, the owners, pioneers in coffee production with environmental protection, have created a colonial-style Nicaraguan inn.

• Breakfast & Lunch included Overnight at D’Santos Boutique Hotel

Today is the day to choose your own activities offered by the family-run property.  You can: walk the coffee trails on a private wildlife reserve tour, checking off your species list of 9 mammals, 59 birds, 7 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 137 insects; or ride a horse; or rent a mountain bike. Another option: learn about the production of globally certified Café de Santos.

• Breakfast included

Following breakfast at the hotel, we will transport you by private car to Managua International Airport.