Booked the sloth sanctuary for Costa Rice BUT

[Hapinowagain2]

now I am reading on the Costa Rica thread that it is not the same anymore. Since you don't get much information on the port threads, I was wondering if anyone had done the sloth sanctuary recently. I just love to interact with animals whenever possible.

[Miramar]

I just did the Sloth Santuary tour 3-4 weeks ago (booked through Princess).

The tour starts in an open pavilion where you watch a short movie about the sloths and the sanctuary. Then they bring out Buttercup the sloth and you may pose for a picture next to her. You don't get to hold her or touch her though. After that you view some of the other resident sloths and they are in enclosures. Next the group is divided in 2 and half go on a nature walk and half go on a canoe trip. During the canoe trip we saw howler monkeys, many types of birds and an iguana. Then you switch and do the activity you hadn't done before (nature walk or canoe0. On the nature walk we didn't really see any animals, mostly just saw all the differnt types of plants, trees etc.

Then everybody joins back up at the sanctuary where they have a fresh fruit buffet, gift shop and you may view the baby sloths. Again, you may look at the sloths but not touch.

I enjoyed the tour and thought it was worthwhile.

[Hapinowagain2]

I thought for $109 I would get to hold one.

[Kittycat]

We were there in March and everyone held Buttercup to have their photo taken. I was really impressed with how the sanctuary owners cared for Buttercup, insisting that flashes be turned off on cameras so as not to frighten her. She was really patient though and obviously very used to being held. For me, this was the highlight of the whole cruise - I loved it and would definitely do it again.

[Hapinowagain2]

Apparently you can't hold Buttercup now.

[Kittycat]

That's a real shame, but I'm sure she must of been a bit fed up with being passed from person to person - and yes, $109 is rather a lot!

[AmyinGA]

We did the tour back in March and had the same experience as Miramar. We loved this excursion. I was so moved by the experience that I "adopted" one of the baby sloths. If you go here: http://community.webshots.com/user/amybal and select the Costa Rica album you can see some of our pics from the tour.

 

If you really want to hold a sloth, there are some private tour operators that will take you to do that. It's not at the sanctuary, but it can be done.