Join the Bobsled Team—Or Just Pretend To
More than 3,000 feet of Jamaican bobsledding track
silently cuts through jungle, seemingly not interfering with the trees or
wildlife. The forest that Mystic Mountain was developed on covers more
than 100 acres of wilderness, including tropical plants, trees, natural
springs and a variety of birds.
There is no snow, of course, so the track is made
from stainless steel rails and is designed to curve and bend around the
jungle terrain.
I got into the black, green and yellow bobsled,
feeling quite like an Olympic athlete. There was even a handbrake that
allowed me to speed up or slow down, depending on how adventurous I felt.
Instead of pushing off like the bobsled team does, though, I stayed put
and just pushed the kid-friendly handbrake to “Go.”
scraps of paper with poems, tambourines, African stringed instruments and
ukuleles.
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Look at
some excepts of what recent editions of various travel
guides and magazines have mentioned about the Rain Forest
Aerial Tram parks. |
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Travels Guides Reviews |
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"Fodor’s
Costa Rica Travel Guide"
2005 Edition |
"The tram gives
students, researchers, and travelers a new way
of seeing the rain-forest canopy and its spectacular array of
epiphyte plant life and birds from just above, a feat you could
otherwise accomplish only by climbing the trees yourself…
Though purists might complain that it treats the rain forest like
an amusement park, it’s an entertaining way to learn the value
and beauty of rain-forest ecology." |
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"The National
Geographic Traveler: Costa Rica"
2000 Edition |
“Few fun-fair rides
are as thrilling as a 90-minute, mile-long
excursion through the rain forest canopy aboard this open-air
aerial tram, in a private tropical wet forest reserve. The trip
reveals details of everyday life in the treetops, where 75% of
all rainforest species dwell.” |
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"The
Discovery Channel: Insight Compact Guide on Costa Rica"
1998 Edition |
“An open gondola
seating four people plus one guide can soar
through the forest at different heights, sometimes only just above
the river, sometimes right up under the tree canopy. Blooming
orchids and bromeliads seem close enough to touch from this
perspective as are monkeys, coatis and honey bears. Toucans
and other birds chewing fruit up here aren’t in the least bothered
by the passing gondolas.” |
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"Adventures
in Nature: Costa Rica"
2001 Edition |
“The aerial tram
brings ski-lift technology to the tropical forest.
Riding in gondola-type cars, visitors pass through what founder
Donald Perry calls “the hanging gardens of Central America”…
you have a chance to see the plants whose flowers you find when
walking on trails.” |
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“American
Birds: The 104th Christmas Bird Count”
2003-2004 |
“This years winning
Ecuador-tally] tops the 400 recorded last
year by the Rain Forest Aerial Tram, Costa Rica, which was
hampered by poor weather this season. Nevertheless, this
year’s [bird count] effort [in Costa Rica] produced the fourth
highest species total in the 19-year history of the count.
The count’s cumulative species list is now up to 489 with the
addition of five new species: Pinnated Bittern, Red-tailed Hawk,
Violet Sabrewing, Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, andWhite-winged
Tanager.” |
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“Up and Away
in Costa Rica’s Rainforests”
Pamela A. Campbell |
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“Visiting Costa Rica
and leaving without a trip into the rainforests is
akin to bypassing the pyramids in Egypt. But this was no ordinary
jungle trek for me. This was the aerial tram tour where I rode in an
open-air gondola suspended at times as high as 35 meters above endless
greenery, ensuring a bird's eye view of the vast forest floor.” |
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