We chose the Original Canopy Tour over the others in the Monteverde area because we had two small children (ages 5 and 7) and were looking for great personal attention and a stripped down – no fancy bells and whistles – moderate canopy experience. It ended up being perfect for our family. For our tour it was just our family and another family of four; three guides accompanied us.
After a ten minute walk through the forest, we started out with the Tarzan swing. The kids (although a bit timid at first) loved it. In fact, they wanted to swing more. Then the zip-lines started. They start off short and easy and then build so as to ease you into the experience. Our five-year-old went on a couple of the easier ones by herself (the rest of the time she went with a guide). Halfway through you get to rappel down from the platform and then climb back up through a hollowed out strangler fig. Very cool. Then back to the zip-lines. The last two were by far the best at 400 and 800 meters respectively. You were high above the canopy floor – the expanse of air, valley, sunshine all around. It was truly a good feeling.
A great plus is that the entire time one of the guides had my camera and took shots of the entire experience. This was an adventure that no of us wanted to end and I highly recommend it for families with small children or for someone who might be more timid.