If you visit the mountains and want to explore the natural environment from a bicycle seat instead of a Jeep bench, consider mountain biking. On a visit to Costa Rica, take a mountain bike tour up the cycling trails of Quepos Mountain. If you go with a group tour, you might find a guide who speaks more than one language, such as English and Spanish. A tour guide directs your attention to local landmarks and unique features of the environment. Some companies specialize in multi-day tours that take visitors to other sites, including visits to coffee farms and rain forest eco-lodges.
Eco-tourism seeks to minimize the impact of tourists on the environment. A Jeep safari has the environmental impact of burning gasoline and releasing pollutants into the air, but it is also a way to take groups across a large amount of terrain in a single day. For example, taking a Jeep tour of Corbett National Park in Uttra Khand, India, gives tourists a glimpse of tigers and other native animals. This Jeep tour may coincide with a multiple-day tour to see other famous sights, such as the city of New Delhi and camping trips in the alpine mountains.
Some eco-tours combine activities on the itinerary. You might spend time on a Jeep safari, but jump off for a boat tour. A boat ride enables you to see marine ecosystems close up. Taking a large group in a tour is safer and more efficient than outfitting groups with their own canoes and setting them loose in wildlife-rich water habitats. For example, on a boat tour of the Black River near Wilmington, North Carolina, you might see bald cypress trees nearly 2,000 years old and animals such as alligators, black bears and bobcats.
