Our jungle adventures at Pico Bonito in Honduras

After our ultimate chill-out-beachbum-hammock-style kind of stay on the island of Roatán (more information about that coming up!), we were absolutely ready for some adventure time on Honduras mainland. 

Luckily for us, quite close to La Ceiba there’s this giant and slightly under-appreciated national park of Pico Bonito (which means in English: ‘pretty little point’). It takes an 30-minute bumpy road ride to get from La Ceiba to this wilderness, which is home to loads of monkeys, birds, reptiles and even some jaguars.  

While being on Roatán we were advised by several expats to visit the Omega Lodge, an eco-lodge located along the Río Cangrejal in between both Pico Bonito and the park of Nombre de Dios (“Name of god”). 

The lodge is run by a couple from Germany, Udo and Sylvia, who already came to the area some 25 years ago. Udo was a member of the national German rafting team and always on the lookout for great rapids. He found his ultimate river adventure in Honduras and decided not only to offer whitewater rafting tours in the area, but also to built a lodge from scratch to hosts his rafting visitors. And the couple has been expanding their property with cabins ever since. 

Welcome to the jungle

I contacted Omega Lodge via Facebook and they offered me a 15% discount because of this direct booking. Although the recommendations about this lodge that we got at Roatán were enough anyway, I also did some comparison with other properties in the area. However, they couldn’t compete with both the price and the reviews of Omega, so that made the decision even easier. 

We arranged a taxi via the lodge for $18,- USD for a one-way trip. A tad expensive, but as this is Honduras I wanted to make sure we made it safely to its hinterland. The driver was waiting for us at the ferry dock and I felt very relieved that we didn’t had to do anything but stepping into his cab and to enjoy the ride through the jungle. 

What a dream to create such a self-sustaining property. 

Both the owners (and their giant rottweilers!) welcomed us at the Omega lodge. They (the owners) gave us a short tour around the property. We could see that a lot of features were well thought out for survival in this jungly area. For example; the lodge is treating its own drinking water, the grey water is being recycled, the buildings have been created almost entirely from materials found on the property (featuring lots of witty details) and the lodge has a giant garden with all types of fruits, veggies and nuts. What a dream to create such a self-sustaining property. 

Here some snaps of the common area ↓

We stayed in the Cabin Creek ($50,- USD without discount) which was quite secluded and located (what’s in a name) right on top of the creek.

The cabin itself was rather simple, but it had everything we needed. Right around the corner we had a natural shower to ourselves. See last picture ↓ 

Waking up here early in the morning was a treat, as the cabin was surrounded by many birds: a full jungle experience. We repeatedly saw a motmot – which I personally find a very gorgeous bird – hopping from branch to branch. 

Another funny feature was the ‘turtle pond’ next to the common area. Although I didn’t see any turtles it was great fun to sit in one of the swings with your feet in the water. After a couple of seconds some fishes popped up and started to nibble our feet.

Time for a free natural pedicure!

 

During our stay we witnessed some other cool things. 

While having breakfast the next day owner Sylvia came down to tell us there were some toucans nearby chasing one another. As we were hasting to the entrance we saw something like eight toucans flying over!

Even in Costa Rica I’d never experienced so many toucans at once in the wild. 

 

All the flowers and fruits in the garden obviously attract a lot of wildlife and as a spectator it is just awesome to see it all flying, crawling and hopping around.

Yes hopping… brace yourself for giant sapos, toads!

This looks tasty right?↑ With all the fruits and veggies being harvested in the same area, the things that we tried out on the menu were seriously delicious. Perhaps the meals were a tad more expensive compared to mainland Honduras, but given the remote location the prices seemed like decent value for money. After all, meat and dairy still had to be imported. 

The menu is huge and there’s a wide variety for veggies and vegans too. And as Udo and Sylvia are German you can also find some schnitzel und bratwurst influences. 

 

Although it’s tempting to lay down in one of the hammocks and stay there for the rest of the day, there are also three jungle trails worth exploring. They are all relatively short; two of them will take something like 30 minutes and the other one is something like twice as long. 

We tried the shorter hikes out in the early morning and were hoping to see some mammals. But unfortunately they remained hidden. 

I’m scratching my back in this picture ↑ and that reminds me… bring your best bug spray! Those little critters are all around unfortunately, it’s the jungle after all. 

In the picture below you can see the annatto fruit. On the inside you can find many bright-red seeds that are used for make-up and food colouring. In Costa Rica they are also named: poor man’s saffron’. 

Although we didn’t encounter a lot of animals, the steep hikes were still worth the effort as we had some gorgeous views on mountains of Pico Bonito on the other side. ↓

Rafting

The best adventure offered at the lodge obviously is the whitewater rafting. Now I’ve been on rafting trips before in Costa Rica, but we felt that this river trip was way different. As the water was at a low level, the guides made it more into a hybrid kind of trip; we started out with climbing several boulders, jumping off them into the river (say whattt!!) and floating down some small rapids before going on the real rafting adventure. ↓

Personally I thought this mix of canyoning, rafting and having a good time was absolutely great. Some of the jumps were quite high, but for the scaredy cats (like me) they fortunately were optional.

The guides were extremely professional, friendly and very clear with instructions on what to do while on the rapids. They made sure everyone was having a good time and I even learned some more about the flora and fauna of Honduras.

What I loved most though is that the captain of our boat seemed to enjoy the trip as much as we did 🙂 ↓

Other things to do

I think you can easily stay for a week if you’re looking to explore it all. Or if you just want to relax for a bit in between. 

Other activities at the lodge include mountain biking, hiking to the waterfall (either with or without a guide) and horse riding. The place also has a big library, so snuggle up in one of those nooks and crannies and soak up the vibe of the jungle of Honduras. Oh and there’s a great yoga platform in case you’re in for some stretching!  

So little time so much to do! Upon leaving I wished we had some extra days in here to enjoy that atmosphere. 

Here’s where to find that lovely lodge near La Ceiba! ↓