Proyecto Asis — Attraction in La Tigra

We booked an 8:30 tour with the volunteering add-on. We arrived early and they had water and lemonade for us to drink while waiting for the rest of our group to arrive. Our tour consisted of 8 people plus our guide, Carlos. He spoke loud enough and clear enough for everyone to understand what he was saying. His English was fantastic and the tour was very interactive - he wanted to make sure we all understood what was going on. The people that worked there really had a passion for their jobs and helping animals. Carlos knew the story of every animal - how it got there and how it was being rehabilitated. You could see and hear the compassion when Carlos spoke about all the animals. So many beautiful animals, and each had a sad story!

After the main tour, Carlos took us to a pavilion while he took everyone else back to the front. In the pavilion, they had snacks and drinks for us to enjoy while waiting for Carlos to return. When we asked for coffee, they asked if we wanted the traditional way and taught us how to make it in the coffee sock. We talked with a couple other workers while enjoying our break who were also very passionate about their jobs. When Carlos returned, we chatted for a while before starting our volunteering. We prepared meals for 6 of the animal cages (each of us prepared 2). We learned what and how we were preparing the food and how this helps them rehabilitate and get reintroduced to the wild.

1 of each of our bowls were put away for later. The other 3 bowls we put into different containers. Carlos taught us about the different enrichment tools they use so the animals always have to “work” for their food. We each took the food we prepared and then went to the animal cages. We each had food for a different monkey cage. We learned that the different monkeys eat and act differently. One cage had 2 monkeys who could both receive their food at the same time. They each ate their favorites first in case the other came over and stole their container.

In another cage, there was a hierarchy. The alpha took his container first. When he left, the second got his. Then the third. Then the fourth. Each monkey moved to a different part of the cage to eat their food.

It was fascinating learning how the different species act and seeing it with our own eyes. We felt like we had helped by providing them with their morning meal and enrichment. The main goal of this sanctuary is to rehabilitate animals and release them back into the wild. The stories were heartbreaking. So many people steal these animals to keep them for pets. When they realize it’s too much, they dump them. This organization goes through many steps to heal the animals and get them back into nature. They want to educate everyone on how to treat animals and why it is important to let nature be nature.

We’re really glad we had this on our itinerary. Our daughter wants to work with animals as a career and this was right up her alley. But even my wife and I really enjoyed it and...

Proyecto Asis is a wildlife sanctuary and animal rescue centre near La Fortuna. The sanctuary is located about a half an hour drive from La Fortuna in a small community.

I booked a half-day volunteer tour and round-trip transportation from La Fortuna with Proyecto Asis during my time in Costa Rica. This was one of the most educational, interesting and worthwhile tours that I have done during all of my travels.

The entire experience lasted from 8:30 AM until 12:30 PM. I was picked up from my hostel in La Fortuna by a driver and arrived at Proyecto Asis. I booked the tour on my own as a solo traveler but joined a tour with about 6 other people. It was a more rewarding experience to have a small group.

Our tour guide, Carlos, was funny, knowledgeable and passionate about the animals living at the sanctuary. He took us on a tour of the property while stopping at each animal's cage to learn more about each individual type of animal, how they arrived to the sanctuary, and whether they would be able to return to the wild one day or not (unfortunately, not all of them will survive). We saw spider monkeys, howler monkeys, parrots, macaws, a marguay, toucans, peccaries, skunk, mapache raccoon, and wild pigs.

It was sad to learn that many of the animals arrived to the sanctuary after living with local families illegally as pets and often being mistreated and abused. Some of the monkeys could not be returned to the wild, as they had lived with humans since babies and had become too domesticated and no longer have natural instincts. We learned about the exotic birds having their feathers cut by humans and then being unable to fly or having to re-learn how to fly again before being released. Some animals had been in accidents with cars or falling out of a tree while others had been imported illegally from other countries to be sold in the black market. It was encouraging to learn about the animals who do have potential to be rehabilitated and released back into the wild as well.

After touring around and seeing all of the animals, we participated in the volunteer portion of the experience. We prepared various fruits for all of the animals and then went around to each cage and learned different techniques for feeding them. I had the opportunity to feed some birds and the spider monkeys, which was a really cool and fun experience to interact with the animals safely! We enjoyed some fresh fruit ourselves at the end.

I had such a wonderful experience at Proyecto Asis. It was clear that the staff really cared about the animals and were passionate about their work. The animals were treated well and the designs of their enclosures was well thought out. This sanctuary does a fantastic job of protecting and rehabilitating the local wildlife. I learned so much during this tour and it really opened my eyes to a new perspective of the harm caused from keeping wild animals as pets. If you love animals and are interested in supporting an amazing organization, I would highly...

TL;DR- Protecto Asis was without a doubt the best part of my trip to Costa Rica. The level of interaction with the animals, the incredible passion of the employees, and the beautiful shelter grounds made for an amazing time! This is my the first, and quite possibly, only online review I ever write.

Full report:

I visited Proyecto Asis on November 13th, 2015. I had originally planned to participate in the $29 USD 8:00 AM tour and emailed regarding availability ahead of time. I received a response confirming they would be holding an 8 AM tour and asked if I would like to make a reservation. I accidentally drove down a closed road for 1 hour and then got to a fallen down bridge and had to drive back an hour. I did not arrive at Protecto Asis until 10:30 AM on the 13th. Upon arrival an employee greeted me and said it was not a problem that I was there outside of the scheduled tour times. The employee was very accomodating. found a tour guide, Carlos, who proceeded to give me a tour of the wildlife shelter. Carlos absolutely killed it. His English was perfect, he was very informative, he was clearly passionate about the animals, and was very accommodating. The animals knew and respected Carlos. Carlos knew every animals life story, unique facts about the animals, and was very funny.

Unlike many places I visited in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, Proyecto Asis was truly a wildlife shelter. They help rehabilitate injured animals and recieve many animals kept as pets illegally. They have proven success plans to help animals kept as pets reintegrate into the wild. The shelter is clean, well shaded, and has a nice river flowing near it. I spent 7 total hours driving from and back to San Jose to visit Proyeto Asis and would 100% do it over again. Do not miss an opportunity to visit a very special place...