Get up-close with wild animals in Costa Rica at the Toucan Rescue Ranch
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "The Toucan Rescue Ranch is a fantastic experience for any armchair adventurer or animal enthusiast; you'll feel instantly transported to Costa Rica as you get up close and personal with Sloths both adult and baby, six different kinds of toucan's, monkeys Parrot's, and much more. The host of the experience, Andrea, is enthusiastic and personable; she immediately wants to know your interest so she can personalize a tour of the ranch just for you. It would also be an excellent experience for Homeschool students in Middle or High school. I will definitely be recommending to friends and family. You can't go wrong if you choose the Toucan Rescue ranch as your first Amazon Explore experience."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'This was our first "virtual field trip"/Amazon experience and it was FANTASTIC! Our host, Stephanie (who is a Tropical Biologist) was AWESOME! She was warm, friendly, and highly knowledgeable. She went out of her way to make the tour interactive and to tailor our experience to our interests and background knowledge and to make us feel comfortable and welcomed. We were able to see and learn about sloths and baby sloths, Toucans, parrots, a tropical otter, spider monkeys, and other animals. It was all very interesting and Stephanie did a fantastic job providing a ton of great information and a chance to see a great deal in our 50 minute tour.\n\nMy 13 year old son and I both thoroughly enjoyed learning about the history of the Toucan Rescue Ranch (founded and still owned by an expat American who moved to Costa Rico), the animals they rescue and care for, the dangers facing some of the native species and the stories of the "resident" animals (animals that have specific circumstances/issues that prevent the Ranch from "re-wilding" them).\n\nWe learned so much about the various animal species at the Toucan Rescue Ranch and about the common dangers they face (including, sadly and all too commonly, being sought after as pets and then abused or abandoned), and the wonderful work done by the Rescue Ranch to care for and rehabilitate any animal that is brought to them and to provide education to student groups that visit as well as to tourists visiting Costa Rico. Such important work they do!\n\nIn summary, I simply cannot recommend this experience, or our host/guide Stephanie, highly enough! We had an amazing time AND simultaneously were doing a small part to help fund the Toucan Rescue Ranch by participating in this experience. The Ranch receives no public funding from the Costa Rican government and relies on donations. The cost of this experience goes towards helping to fund their much needed and amazing work!!\n\nIf you are considering signing up for an Amazon Experience, SIGN UP FOR THIS ONE! It will be enjoyable and memorable for any age from small kiddos to grandparents! You will not regret it and you will be helping to support the important work of a wonderful organization.\n\nThank you, Miss Stephanie, for making our experience so wonderful and memorable. If we ever travel to Costa Rico (which this tour made me want to do!), we will absolutely be visiting the Toucan Rescue Ranch!'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'What an amazing deal! This experience was so personal. It was very conversational the whole time, we saw sloths, toucans, parrots, and spider monkeys. Our 9 and 5 year old loved every minute. The host was energetic, knowledgeful, and great with the kids reactions. I give this my highest recommendation and hope the other Amazon experiences can live up to this!\n\nFor those looking to understand the experience, we signed on at the scheduled time on an amazon portal. An intro video plays introducing you to the controls, and once we were connected we saw that we were the only party in the reservation. We did quick introductions and started the tour. The tour guide can send video an audio and our mic was left open the entire time so we were able to interact and ask questions throughout. Your host is unable to see you so dont bother setting up a shot of your family. The controls allow for you to point toward focus on the screen "what is that animal? (click on right side of screen)" and take pictures. The picture quality (included in review) was great and it looks like it pulls pictures from the source device and not a screen shot of our end of the video.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Before we began guide told us what animals we wanted to see and then showed them and talked about them. The birds are in cages, but they did come close so you could take pics using the web tools. They seem very well cared for.\nOur Kids loved asking questions and seeing the animals. Even though at times the video was blurry (its a remote location in Costa Rica), when you click on the picture button they come out really well as its using the guides device. The audio was very good throughout. The guide can hear you but not see you.\nOur guide, Shanon, was able to show the baby sloths real close.\nA great way to get out and see and kinda experience things under the current circumstances. Looking forward to trying some other experiences.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I did this wonderful experience with my family and everyone loved it, especially my two children. The host was very welcoming and kind, the tour was amazing, we had great conversation about the animals and the best part... we got to see some amazing animals healing and being taken care of by this great organization. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves animals, has kids that love animals, care for animal conservation, etc.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'We booked this for our 11-year-old who loved the experience and Andrea was very patient with her questions. The tour was personalized and we learned a lot about animals in Costa Rica (for example, I now know what a tayra is). It was a really great experience and we are likely to book again to see more of the center. This is an outstanding pandemic activity for kids stuck at home.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'We took a tour of the rescue with Daniel, and it was an incredible experience. Daniel was warm, friendly, and so informative. We spent a lot of time with the sloths, watching the babies cuddle and groom each other. I have been to a live tour in Costa Rica, and this was better in some ways just because it was personalized and just us and the guide without an entire group. Not only was the tour fun and interesting, we were also grateful to be able to visit Cosa Rica "live" and feel the excitement of being in a new place again despite the pandemic. Everyone is hurting right now, including the rescues; booking this online excursion helps support the care and rehabilitation of animals during a time when fewer resources are available to help these animals. This is one way to ensure that the rescues continue to get the much-needed income to continue the selfless work that they do, all while getting an amazing experience that the whole family can enjoy! I highly recommend this as a unique activity that you will undoubtedly love as much as we did.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'After this last year has made it so difficult to get to travel we decided to try this opportunity to see what it was like and this was amazing! Andrea was a wonderful tour guide and truly gave us a great experience! We saw a ton of animals! The best part was seeing Emma the otter playing in her enclosure and learning about her story. We also got to see the spider monkeys and a rainbow toucan which was incredible. I thought this tour was incredible and would one day love to see the TRR in person! Thank you Andrea and TRR we had a blast!'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "2.14.22~ Did quite a few of these Amazon Explorer Adventures.\nLike who wouldn't want to take a lunchbreak & tour Prague at Sunset?\nGotta say~ The Toucan Rescue Ranch may be my fave.\n\nOriginally decided to do it bc I love sloths.\nI like any gentle animal that just wants to chill & share love.\nNever saw one in person like at a zoo & this option is rather affordable.\n\nThe sloths were sleeping but Carlos, my guide. and I got lucky.\nLatte the Hibiscus loving sloth was awake & adorable at the end of our journey.\nNever been so grateful for the picture taking option as I was with Latte.\n\nIt's a Toucan Rescue in Costa Rica so you see toucans & owls that have been saved.\nThe Toucans are quite fascinating & Beautiful. Tropical Owls are smaller\nDare say didn't know much about toucans besides the front of a cereal box.\n\nTips~\n*All 5 trips have had Hit/Miss Clear Video.\nMaybe an A-Z Glitch bc did one directly through a vendor & was fine\nVendor is more expensive but for instance with a 'Rescue' they get all the money\n* Must use Pc. No phones. (Probably to help Video Quality)\n* Take Pictures. Take Lots of Pictures\nEven with blurry video, Pix are crystal clear & great quality when downloaded\n* Take Notes\nSpecially to know what your pix are\nAlso fun to Google what Guide told you to get Full Experience\n\nHighly Recommend 'Get Up & Close with The Animals' at 'Toucan Rescue Ranch'.\nBeautiful Tropical Locale with lush trees, flowers, feathered & furry friends.\nPlus you get to do your Good Deed for the Day as you trip helps the ranch."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'This is a great experience especially when travel becomes hard. If I remember correctly, CR and Panama together host 7% of world species, and CR has been focusing on eco friendly development for yeas. I hope this new virtual tour thing can help support the local business, and we are able to experience its beauty after the pandemic.\n\nAll the animals we saw during the tour are healthy and well cared of. Our guide is very knowledgeable.\n\nAt last, I hope Makuu works hard to successfully completes his college, and goes back to the rainforest one day. Keep an eye on harpy eagles though.'}]