Rio San Juan is a remote stretch of river that links the Caribbean to Lake Nicaragua and marks the border with Costa Rica to the south. And around the San Juan lies some of the most beautiful rainforest I have ever seen. Much of it is now a wildlife reserve which is teeming with life so we would have the chance to see Jaguar, Tapir and Manatee and a practical guarantee of a close encounter with Sloths, Monkeys, Macaws and Toucans to name but a few. The 6 hour journey we made coming downstream from San Carlos to the Rio Indio lodge was – despite the pouring rain – a wonderful experience. The landscape is constantly changing along the way, the key theme being that the forest canopy becomes higher and more dense as you draw nearer the Caribbean coast.

Where the Rio San Juan meets the sea and curves around into the opening of the Rio Indio, there are literally hundreds of narrow and winding waterways which widen into open lagoons with flying fish. It’s a magical water maze.

We stayed at the Rio Indio Lodge