Half-Day Canyoning in Balsar Abajo

We're exploring the waterways and waterfalls in the Osa region with this tour. You'll get to experience raw nature in this untouched part of the country.

After we meet you at the meeting point (in front of the Balsar church), we'll take you up the mountain. It's 4kms to our drop-off spot, and from there we're on foot for about 15-20 minutes to get to our first descent.

The first rappel is just next to a waterfall, and is the highest one we have (45m) - but not to worry, being off to the side of the waterfall means you don't have to juggle the water on your first go. After that, each of the rappels is in the water.

Along the way, we've got 8 rappels and approximately 3kms of walking, divided between the waterfalls. The height of the waterfalls ranges from 7m to 35m. At the end we'll have some food waiting for you and then we'll drive you back to your vehicle.

1. Osa Peninsula

• Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
• Not recommended for pregnant travelers
• Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
• Travelers should have a high level of physical fitness
• Entrance: From the entrance point, it’s about a 20 minute walk through the rainforest to the platform for our first rappel. This is under shade and oftentimes we’ll spot some wildlife along the way.
• Descent 1 Depending on the group size it takes about 25 minutes to get everyone down the first rappel. It’s about 45 meters high and is our highest one.
• Descent 2 To get to the second rappel, it takes about 10 minutes walking through the waterway to make it to the first waterfall descent. We’ve allowed about 20 minutes for the rappelling in this first waterfall of about 12 meters.
• Descent 3 Between the 2nd and 3rd descent we’ve got our longest hiking section of about 35 minutes through the waterways. Once we get to the next waterfall, the next 3 descents are only steps away from one another. For the 3rd descent we take about 15 minutes to get everyone down. This waterfall is about 8 meters high.
• Descent 4 Now at the 3rd waterfall, we take about another 15 minutes for the rappelling of the whole group. This waterfall is about 7 meters in height.
• Descent 5 This next waterfall is about 10 meters tall and takes about 25 minutes to get everyone over the edge and down into the natural pool below. While we’re here we also have a snack while waiting for everyone to finish up so we add about 10 minutes on for that.
• Descent 6 Before the next waterfall we’re back on for a hike – only for about 20 minutes to get to our next spot. We’ll be about 20 minutes rappelling down descent #6 of about 9 meters.
• Descent 7 Another short hike of 25 minutes to get to our 7th rappel, where we need about 15 minutes to get a group down the 7 meter descent.
• Descent 8 Between the 7th and 8th rappel there’s no distance at all, so we get right into it, and given that it’s our second-highest rappel at 35 meters, it takes us 25 minutes to get the crew all the way down.
• After all the descents, we have a 20 minute hike out of the waterways and to the vehicles.