Jaguar Rescue Center

My friends and I had a great time visiting the Jaguar Rescue Center- they didnt have any jaguars at the time but they had a bunch of sloths, birds and other animals. They’re a really successful rehabilitation program so they aways have animals coming in and out. You could tell they were really well taken care of and this is an organization that’s very ethically based. All the money from tickets goes directly to helping the animals so it’s 100% worth it to visit and support their great work! Our tour guide was Lizzy and she did a great job teaching us about the wildlife. They take in around 1000+ injured/sick/orphaned animals a year from around the area and rehabilitate most that are able to return to the wild. Make sure to bring cash as their card machine was down when we visited!

We had an incredible time at this animal sanctuary. Anje, our guide, was extremely informative, funny, and full of interesting facts. On the tour, you only see the animals that have been too humanized or injured to be let back into the wild. Also, the cost of your ticket goes directly goes directly to helping the animals. The staff are volunteers and even the guides are only paid from any additional tips. I appreciated that it was really animal focused. Would highly recommend.

We had an amazing experience at the Jaguars Rescue Center! Our tour guide, Max, was fantastic—super knowledgeable, kind, and passionate about the work being done here. You can tell how much the entire team truly cares about the animals, and I love that their mission focuses on rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing wildlife back into the wild whenever possible. Every single person we interacted with, from the guides to the ticket staff and even the ladies at the coffee shop, was warm, welcoming, and informative. It was so special to see how much love the volunteers have for the animals—and honestly, you could feel the animals returning that love, too. One of the highlights was getting to watch the spider monkeys enjoy their snacks—they were absolutely thrilled, and so were we! This is definitely something I’d recommend to anyone visiting the area. It was inspiring, educational, and heartwarming. I’m already looking forward to coming back—and hopefully even volunteering if I can!

At first, I thought this was gonna be another tour of animals in captivity. However, we got to learn the amazing work that this organization do. We had an excellent guide in all our questions were answered. For those who set up for the early morning tour, they have a coffee shop With enough for you to have a hearty breakfast. The tool guides are volunteers. Therefore, please remember to tip them. There is plenty of parking on the side of the road, but outside of the main road. We were able to see amazing animals very close and to learn the stories behind their rescue and why they are there.We had an amazing time. The tour itself may take a couple of hours.

We had a wonderful experience at the Jaguar Rescue Center. Our tour guide, Ale, was a passionate and knowledgeable volunteer who clearly cares deeply for the animals. His compassion was inspiring and helped foster a deeper respect for the wildlife among all of us on the tour. The center itself is doing amazing, responsible work in rescuing, rehabilitating, and protecting animals in need. The sloths were especially adorable and a definite highlight. Highly recommend a visit—it’s educational, heartfelt, and a great way to support wildlife conservation.

The place is very well set up to allow you to easily see the animals but the tour groups were wayyy to big for the space (ours had around 18) and there’s no crowd management from from the tour guides so people would stand directly in front of where the animals were and not move so then other people weren’t able to get up close to see anything or get pictures. They also said you could wait and get pictures at the end of the speaking part so you were stuck unless people were nice and got their pictures and moved which unfortunately most of our group wasn’t. They need to educate their tour guides on crown management to make sure everyone gets an opportunity to see or shrink their groups so that there is actually enough space for everyone to actually be able to see since there is such limited space near the animals. Especially since it’s Costa Rican law that there can’t be any people in the photos.

Max was our tour guide for the English speaking visitors. He was very informative, charming, and so full of enthusiasm for the rescue centre it was inspiring. The centre itself was beautifully thought out, and the animal enclosures for the long term stays were as natural as possible and good sizes for their occupants. The centre focuses mainly on rehabilitation and release of the wildlife rescues, but sadly where release isn't possible the animals are mostly used as educational displays to inform the public, schools and colleges groups and the wider community about the value of the Costa Rican wildlife and the importance of preservation in the wild environment. I would absolutely recommend the centre. They do amazing work, with their own vets and animal hospital on site and the volunteers entirely funded from public donations and sales in the small gift shop.

We had a wonderful tour of this facility. The kids (8 and 11) loved seeing all the animals that were being cared for, and the guide Max was great! He threw in some good jokes and spoke loudly enough for the group to hear. He explained the situation of each animal very well. Some are able to be released while others unfortunately cannot be released due to circumstance. It's a good chance to see local fauna and learn about wildlife in Costa Rica.