Gamboa Rainforest Resort Butterfly Garden and Frog Exibit — Attraction in Cristóbal

I did not stay at the resort, but we came for the day to do the aerial tram and butterfly garden. Upon entry to the hotel to get tickets I was shocked at the prices. $60 per person to do an aerial tram, a walk through a butterfly garden and see some sloths? So overpriced!

The transport was good to and from the attractions. I thought we were supposed to have a guide.. nope. Just an audio guide, although that was nice and informative. The tower has really great views on both sides. One of the canal and one of the changres river.

After the tram, we took a short ride to the butterfly area. Before that entrance there was a frog area which was great. Lots of frogs of different species. The butterfly area was nice too, but looked like the plants needed to be watered more. I wasn't able to get much info on all the butterflies, as we had no guide. Weird cuz I saw other groups did.

Lastly, the sloth area was pathetic, sorry to say. There were a couple branches on a stage with 2 sloths and a sign saying for $10 you can take a picture with one. I completely skipped that part and thought it was more about sloths they had saved or were rehabilitating. Seemed just gimmicky.

We did have a great day, apart from no guide and the makeshift "sloth sanctuary". I didn't see an area online or in the reviews for pricing so I took pictures to share so others will...

The Gamboa Resort should really call this what it is - a small donation to the APPC or Sloth Rescue Organization. If most/all the money goes to Sloth rescue then it would be a worthy cause. But to set expectations higher, with a "tour guide" who is basically just hotel staff reading a script, is overplaying it. There is no transparency about how much money goes to APPC itself. Most of the money probably goes to the hotel and costs of having a shuttle take you the 650 meters between the front door of the resort and the exhibits.

You do see a collection of frogs, butterflies, and orchids though these exhibits aren't well maintained and you have to put up with loud narration of information that is already on the signs. The sloth exhibit has plenty of signs you could read yourself too, and we saw three sloths inside -- plus one "wild" sloth in a tree just outside.

All in all, this seems like a tourist trap/money grab by the resort. Probably fun for younger kids and those who want to see "nature" without it actually touching them. I'd have preferred to simply walk in to the sloth sanctuary and give them $20/person directly without the middle-man...

The Sloth Sanctuary:

There are some beautiful butterflies to see. There weren't many orchids to see, but the poisonous frog area was very interesting. Despite their tiny size, they are nevertheless highly poisonous. A very beautiful facility with many different orchid species, incredibly beautiful butterflies, and colorful frogs.

The staff there are very friendly, explain everything, and you can tell they love their work.

Worth a visit in my...