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By Paul Fitzpatrick, Vallarta Adventures
The latest adventure tour to hit Mexico is Canopy – a fast, fun and
furious combination of sport and eco-tourism. Originally developed in Costa
Rica, the idea has now rushed north to the popular Mexican holiday destination
of Puerto Vallarta. There, lush tropical forests drip off of the Sierra Madre
Mountains to touch the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean, and this next
generation of Canopy tour has taken advantage of the spectacular landscape.
If you are an adrenaline junkie who shies away from nothing, this tour
is for you. From platforms situated high above the forest floor you will glide
effortlessly from tree to tree using traversing techniques and pulley systems.
Gain your confidence on the shorter traverses before you are forced to make a
gut check at Traverse No. 8, appropriately titled "Big Mama." This is
the longest of them all, a 440-foot traverse, where you will find out just how
much of an extreme nature lover you really are.
The private Canopy Reserve is located deep into the interior of the
Sierra Madre behind Puerto Vallarta, where the tallest, strongest and best
hardwood tropical trees are found. Guests can start the tour from meeting points
in both Nuevo Vallarta and Marina Vallarta, thus making it easy if you are
staying in any of the hotel zones. The ride up into the forest is an adventure
in itself as you board bright yellow ex-army Unimog trucks on a monster journey
inland towards a small settlement called Las Palmas, and then off-road up into
the hills of the Sierra Madre.
This tour is for the thrill-seeker in all of us and is an excellent and
unique way to view the sub-tropical forests Mexico where a diverse array fauna
and flora is found, including hundreds of different species of orchids,
bromeliads, tropical birds and reptiles.
Though it has had a very young life in Vallarta, Canopy Tours have been
around since the mid 1990's. "The Original Canopy Tour," situated in
the Monteverde Cloud Forest of Costa Rica was the first of its kind in the
world and the company in recent years has marketed its expertise and proven
safety record in other parts of the world. It has been hugely successful in
providing eco-tourists with an experience of a lifetime.
The Canopy Tour in Puerto Vallarta has quickly come to eclipse those in
Costa Rica in both popularity and sheer excitement.
Upon completion of the tour you will have done 11 traverses, walked
across two jungle bridges, completed one "Tarzan" swing and stood on
14 different platforms at varying levels up to five stories off the ground, not
to mention the rappel from the final platform. As you can see, you'll be busy,
but trust me, by the end of the tour you'll have wished it were longer. This is
not an experience you’ll soon forget!
If you are thinking whether you’d be able to do such a daredevil tour on your vacation, remember, people as young as eight and as old as 80 participate in the Canopy adventure. So, leave all the hard work to the guides, relax and enjoy the view, because there are few like it.