The best white water rafting in Honduras can be done at the Cangrejal River. This is literally a doorstep from your room at La Villa de Soledad. Class II, III and IV rapids will challenge your ability to work as a team as you charge down the river in an inflatable raft. The magnificent green river banks are teeming with bird life.
Two Parks, Pico Bonito National Park flanking the West bank of the River and Nombre de Dios National Park on the East bank, will enhance your experience. If you are addicted to the feel of adrenaline pumping through your body, this is a must do activity! No previous experience in necessary. The regular put in for the activity is only about one third of a mile up river from La Villa de Soledad. This activity is not recommended for kids under 12 years of age. Life vest and helmet are provided.
Are you into flying through the forest canopy in a zip line? If so, we have the perfect activity for you! The Jungle River Tours Zip Line Canopy tour is located only 2/3 of a mile from our Eco Lodge. It offers you the opportunity to zip through a total of 9 cables. Zip across the Cangrejal River. Then take a short hike up the mountain into Pico Bonito National Park to the first station. There, start your return downhill on the remaining 8 cables. The platforms are located high in the forest and will give you a unique view of the jungle canopy. Finally, the last cable will bring you back over the Cangrejal River.
This tour will take you a couple of hours. Don’t forget to bring good hiking shoes. The tour company will provide you with a helmet and all the safety harnesses and equipment that you need.
One of the best tours in Pico Bonito National Park
Pico Bonito National Park is on the north coast of Honduras. It 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.
You can find the Pico Bonito Visitors center just a couple hundred meters from La Villa de Soledad. This is the area of Pico Bonito with trails along the Cangrejal River. Here, the visitor’s center gives access to a splendid 120 meter (almost 400ft.) Indiana Jones style hanging bridge. The bridge crosses high above 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 200m (600ft) 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. These include the majestic jaguar, its smaller cousin the jaguarundi, river otters and even anteaters. Monkeys are a rare sight, but do show up from time to time.
An ample variety of birds, including motmots, toucans, parrots and many others are easily seen in the park. Local guides can be arranged for your hike into Pico Bonito National Park.
A network of trails into Pico Bonito National Park is available for you to enjoy and discover the tropical rainforest. Access is via an “Indiana Jones” style hanging bridge over the Cangrejal River, located only 600 feet from La Villa de Soledad. The trails include the shorter La Roca loop trail. This trail will take you about one hour to hike, or the longer El Mapache Trail. This last one will take you to the foot of the El Bejuco Waterfall. Here the water falls over 400 feet down the mountain cliffs on its way to the Cangrejal River!
The El Mapache trail will take you about 3 hours to hike round trip and does require some physical work. Although you can enjoy the hike on your own, we recommend that you do it with the company of a local guide. The guide will point out some highlights and help you identify the wildlife you may see along the way.
A small, grass roots NGO called Guaruma operates out of the community of Las Mangas. This is only about 2 ½ miles from La Villa de Soledad. They focus on environmental education through the use of photography. Here they teach kids how to use computers and speak English. They have a nice, very friendly trail that is great for people of all ages that will give you an insight to the tropical jungle. The Guaruma trail takes about 1 hour to hike,. It offers the opportunity to jump into a crystal clear swimming hole in a creek running down from the Nombre de Dios mountains. This hike is ideal for young children or older adults. Guiding is done by the young men from the communities who have been trained to act as guides and do so very well.
The Cangrejal River is the perfect natural pool to have fun in!
We are often asked if we have a pool in our property. The truth is that it does not make any sense to have a pool in your property when you have a magnificent river at your doorstep! The Cangrejal River offers crystal clear waters and huge boulders to use as lounges. In addition, a great current to use for exercise instead of a lap pool and the perfect natural playground for kids.
We even offer a personal guide to take show you our path to the river and the best swimming spot at no charge: our dog Nina. She will guide you and even jump into the river and play with you while you are there. This is one of the activities that our guests enjoy the most. Come and play in our river, and discover how much better than a pool it really is! You can swim in a pool back home all the time, but you will miss swimming in the Cangrejal River!
Yes I know, most people will not call this an activity, but believe me, it certainly is one! There is no better spot to get comfortable and read your book, catch up with your email, and even do some bird watching! Best of all, it is the perfect activity to finish off an adventure filled day in the jungle. I just know you will agree with us once you settle into our hammocks! We have plenty of them throughout our property, so that you can find the one that is perfect for you
