Tours and Activities Near La Villa de Soledad B&B
Cangrejal River Rafting
The Cangrejal River has become a symbol of world class white water rafting in Central America. For over 15 years, it has been the foremost rafting site in Honduras, and its superb quality rapids, which offer a nice, technical level with pristine forests, easy access and incredibly clear water have earned it a prime name in the rafting and kayaking circles. The river has actually 4 different sections that can be run, depending on the degree of expertise. The regular commercially run section is about ¼ mile upriver from La Villa de Soledad, and can be clearly seen from our front porch! This section offers a variety of 3 to 6 foot drops into pools. A short canyon offers fast water, technical class III and IV rapids and lovely scenery floating amidst house size boulders. The trip is usually a 3 hour exhilarating experience. The lush tropical rain forest of Pico Bonito National Park provides a unique background, with the possibility of seeing a variety of tropical birds, including keel billed toucans.
A slightly more technical run is the stretch between the communities of El Pital and Las Mangas, which provides more class IV runs. Finally, if you are an expert kayaker, the run from Las Mangas to El Naranjo finishes right in front of La Villa de Soledad and provides a nice variety of class III, IV and even a V rapid.
Some well traveled white water experts claim that the Cangrejal River offers the best white water in Central America and Mexico. It doesn’t matter if you are a novice or an expert, your white water rafting adventure on the Rio Cangrejal will surely be a memorable experience that you will cherish for a lifetime!
Canopy Tours
A zip line canopy tour into the Pico Bonito National Park is located right on the opposite side of the Cangrejal River and a short half a mile away from La Villa de Soledad B&B. Jungle River Tours headquarters are only 800 meters (2500ft) downriver from us, making it a short 5 minute walk. The tour will take you across the river on a zip line, and then a short hike into the rainforest will bring you to the first station from where your exhilarating experience will begin. A total of nine different stations will interconnect you via a zip line across the jungle canopy. Professional staff always there to take care of your safety and help you at each station. On the last and final stretch will fly across the river once again to land safely on the road side of the river.
Another Canopy tour option is in Sambo Creek, within a 45 minute trip from La Villa de Soledad. This option is on the Nombre de Dios Mountains, offering views of the Caribbean Sea and the lovely Cayos Cochinos Marine Park. Perhaps the biggest difference here is that your tour will end at a spectacular setting, where natural hot springs, cascade down a jungle stream providing a perfect hot water pool where you can soothe your muscles and relax your nerves after the excitement of this exhilarating adventure.
Pico Bonito National Park is located on the north coast of Honduras, and is one of the largest national parks in Central America. Pico Bonito probably offers the most bio-diverse geographical area in North America, due to the rugged area within this park. Habitats ranging from sea level mangroves to tropical cloud forests, with tropical rain forests and tropical dry forests are all within its boundaries.
Just a half kilometer from La Villa de Soledad is an area of Pico Bonito with trails along the Cangrejal River. Here a visitor’s center gives access to a splendid 120 meter (almost 400ft.) Indiana Jones style hanging bridge that crosses the magnificent Cangrejal River into the park itself. A well kept trail leads into the forest to the lovely El Bejuco waterfall. The round trip trail will take a good 3 ½ hours to the waterfall and back.
The Cangrejal River visitor’s center is located only 100m (300ft) from La Villa de Soledad. Thus, it is perfect to get up early in the morning for a hike into the park to take advantage of this time of the day to see the local wildlife. Although mammals are hard to see, there are a variety of different mammals that have been seen within this area of the park, including the majestic jaguar, its smaller cousin the jaguarundi, river otters and even anteaters. More easily seen are a variety of birds, including motmots, toucans, parrots and many others. Local guides can be arranged for your hike into Pico Bonito National Park. Our pet Danger, a Jack Russell Terrier spends a good part of her day looking for vermin to hunt. She has had close encounters (rather smelly, by the way) with skunks, she has also found a porcupine (her nose suffered from one of its spines) as well as squirrels, guatusas, and other rodents!
Finally there is another area close by that offers nice easy hiking, in the village of Las Mangas, only 3 miles up the river from La Villa de Soledad. Here, you can hire the services of young guides that are part of Guaruma, a local NGO that encourages environmental education through the lens of a camera. Many of these young girls and boys are true nature photographers who have built a nature trail and provide guided tours. The trail offers easy hiking, and will show you several interesting native plants and birds, as well as the opportunity to cross a creek over a hanging bridge and quick dip into a crystal clear creek with inviting swimming holes. This hiking option allows you to combine getting to know local members of the community while enjoying nature, a perfect combination!
