Tips for visit Danta Waterfall at San Ramon, Costa Rica
Last updated on June 13th, 2019
Forgive us for being so late, we could not publish this post and it was hanging around for the last 8 months.
However, we didn’t want to leave it there filed because this was one of the last adventures that we did last year (2016), STILL useful and updated tips to visit the waterfall, enjoy it!
It´s been difficult to write the blog after the holiday season. As we’ve been catching up with things and thinking back over last year, we remembered how we finished the year with a great adventure with new explorers from Jacksonville, Florida. They are Ashley and Andrew, a young couple with an adorable baby. We hope they can join us soon for more adventures!
We had visited Catarata Danta in the past. As I mentioned before, it is located in one of my favorite places in San Ramon,: Bajo La Paz. So we decided to take Ashley and Andrew because it’s not too far from San Ramon. However, it took longer than what we expected! So here is the information along with a better attempt to calculate time so we don’t tell people that we are going to be back at noon. 😉
General Information
- Name: “La Danta Waterfall”
- Located: Bajo La Paz, San Ramon
- Duration: Approximately 8 hours. We spent about 5 hours hiking and 3 hours at breakfast and getting coffee at Cafeteria Flory after the hike.
- Walking Distance: 7 kilometers round trip (from where you left the car until the waterfall will be around 4.4 miles).
- Owner of the property: Ignacio Arias – 2445-3595
- Difficulty: Moderate
The experience
07:40 am We met at the park and headed off to Bajo La Paz.
After a great (and always big) Costa Rican breakfast in my favorite Soda Cafeteria Flory , we started to drive. After 15 minutes in the rocky path, it started to get muddy. The adventure had begun for Ashley and Andrew.
9:10 am We started to walk to the main entrance of the property that is located in the middle of the cloud forest. The weather wasn’t too bad, but it had been raining the night before so the route was a little slippery. Ashley fell once and I think almost twice.
Interesting notes about the property The property where the waterfall is located is owned by Ignacio Arias (“Nacho”is his nickname). He was a hunter who decided—after several conversations with professors from the university—to stop hunting and preserve the forest and the species that live there.
Also, it’s located in the continental divide—the division between the Caribbean and the Pacific side. For those like me who didn’t fully understand the concept at first, here is a definition: “A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea. (Wikipedia, Consulted 01/05/2016). I founded this fact really interesting, so we took some pictures where the division was marked.
Around noon…. We stopped for a break just before we started the trail inside the forest. There is a rustic house with bathroom, which is a perfect to stop for water and snacks or “energy bites.”
The trail
Around 1 km long in the middle of the cloud forest, the trail has a certain level of difficulty because the infrastructure does not have railing and some parts are really steep. It took around 45 minutes to go down and about the same time to go up. I love the fact that you have to cross small creeks running through the woods. They start to become more profuse until you reach the waterfall. On a side note, the springs around the trail show the incredible water resources that we have in our country. I feel grateful for the opportunity to drink water straight from nature!
“Catarata La Danta” is the name of this waterfall, which is located on private property. According to legend, the waterfall got its name because a hunter in the area was trying to chase a “Danta” (Tapir in English). He followed it to the river, and after the animal didn’t find a route of escape, it jumped into the waterfall and disappeared. The hunter tried to find and even went down the river, but he had no clue what happened to the tapir.
The waterfall itself is around 50 meters, with very clear and cold water. The pool is around 2 meters (6.5 feet) deep, so people can swim. In this trip, our friend Jafeth was the only one brave enough to do it. We stayed for 20 minutes, taking pictures, observing the beauty of the place, and celebrating that our Floridian couple made it and officially became explorers.
3:30 pm: We enjoyed a delicious late lunch/coffee and tasted the flavor of good company in a great adventure! It was a good trip to end the year of adventures.
Video
OUTFIT Recommended
Tennis shoes (no Toms, right Ashley?) + comfortable clothes that can dry easily + rain jacket or poncho + water + snacks + repellent *wood stick
I love the fact that at all the places we visited on this trip, we were contributing to local economies. The owners from the property and restaurant will directly benefit from our visit! We really encourage people to step out of their comfort zone—off of the concrete, into a lot of mud and bugs, but into places that help locals. We want people to enjoy nature and have fun hiking!
Hola, como se contactan para entrar? Detalles?
Saludos, Liz, te vamos a contactar por correo.
Hola. Thanks for the great article and info. I am visiting in April and staying in San Ramon. Do you know if waterfalls are still open for public?
Hello, this waterfall is open to the public however the waterfall is located on private property and the owner charges a fee to get into it.
Is this the different from the Danta Waterfall that is considered to be in Arenal?
Is there an entrance fee for this hike/fall?
Hey, Jonathan
This is a waterfall located in San Ramon (This place is our hometown which is 1 hour away from the airport)
So this is a different waterfall than the one in Fortuna (Arenal).
The hike has a fee of $10 per person but this is a hike that you do with the owner of the property.
If you need more info, let us know.
Regards,
It was absolutely awesome to travel to the waterfall with you guys! I think the main reason why it was so special was that it is so abandoned – maybe kinda lost too. That’s something you can feel and see on the trip the whole time. The muddy, stony road (seeing barely 5 houses on the last 8 kilometres), the pure adventure when you’re hiking (going through small creeks and stuff), seeing nobody else on your way to the waterfall and in the end this tiny place with one of the highest waterfalls that I’ve ever seen in my life. I think it would’ve not be possible without you guys. As we haven’t got a car it would already be impossible to get there at this point but you just had a lot of information and knew all the stuff that was important. Even my host family didn’t know the place and I really don’t know who could share information about this except you. So thanks for everything and I hope we’ll go out for a hike again soon!!!
Thank you for your kind words!!! Definitely is one of those hidden gems that you are glad to be one of the few people to know about it! Also at the same time, you want to share with more people to experience that contact with nature and unique experience! So we already planning our next adventure to discover a new hidden gem in Costa Rica and you are welcome to join us!