The Lo De Perla jungle garden is a marvellous place. I took the tour with a few friends in January 2020 and enjoyed every bit of it. From the reservation… read more to the pick-up and the tour through the jungle, everything worked smoothly. Vicente was a superb guide with great knowledge of the plants and the area.
The love and care that is put into this paradise shows throughout the whole tour and it is great to know that there are people in this world that have made it their mission to preserve nature and protect it from urbanisation and deforestation. The team of Lo De Perla does an incredibly important job. I recommend everyone who is even remotely close to the area to go visit this place.

  We spent the afternoon with Vincente walking the path up and down the botanical reserve. Warning – there is a lot of steps but the pace is slow and the… read more footing is good. If you have a walking stick, you’ll be glad you brought it along. We did not need long pants, long sleeve shirts, bug spray or hats as it is not buggy season. Dress appropriately. Do wear runners. We appreciated the attention that Vincente and his uncle gave us and so included a gratuity.
During this month, there are few flowers in bloom, which is disappointing, however we were taught that great importance is given to keeping the reserve natural and not force blooming the plants with fertilizer, etc. Will go back in a different season to see these plants blooming when they are supposed to. There is a nursery where there are a number of orchids and other plants I. Bloom so you can enjoy the colours.

  This was one of the highlights of our trip to the Jalisco/Nayarit area. We spent a week traveling around and this, plus the petroglyphs at Altavista. The garden is the… read more life work of our guide Jose, who has been working on it for 20 years. There are amazing varieties of orchids and other plants, birds and other wildlife. We visited in the low season (Jan-Mar) for flowering, but there was still a lot to see and enjoy, and Jose gives great background on the place. If you are into the diversity of life this is a great place to visit. It is not easy to find though, and Apple maps sends you the wrong way through San Pancho along the coast (Waze couldn’t find it). You follow carretera 200 northbound from San Pancho, and then exit on your left into Las Lomas. Then you follow the unpaved road for a few miles until you get to a 4 way fork in the road, where you see a sign for Av Orchidea. you follow that for another half mile to get to the garden, but best to call ahead. In our case, the owner Alejandro asked for Jose to come and meet us in Las Lomas and he then led us there. Talk about hospitality!!

  Me sentí muy feliz de tener la oportunidad de visitar este jardín de la jungla a las afueras de San Pancho para la excursión de la mañana. Nos reunimos en… read more Las Lomas y nos acompañaron otros cuatro viajeros para nuestro recorrido matutino por el hermoso…jardín tendido y creado durante más de 20 años por el tío José de Vicente. El recorrido estuvo lleno de información sobre el área, las plantas indígenas, los árboles y los usos medicinales, y fue una introducción perfecta a la jungla de esta área que de otra manera no habríamos visto. También fue bueno ver que esta enseñanza con amor y respeto por la naturaleza se transmite de generación en generación, ya que ese día fuimos acompañados por el hijo de Vicente. Me alegró poder ayudar a apoyar el hermoso trabajo que realizan y animar a todos a visitar este lugar especial. Más

  I will say getting here was a little dicey. We traveled up to the meeting place from San Pancho which was about 10 minutes or so North. The meeting place… read more is not marked. You can follow it with a map and still feel lost. We drove around the area and about 15 minutes after the meeting time we were greeted by our host. We jumped into his old Ford Expedition and honestly at first were a little concerned.

From there though, things were great. We drove about 15 minutes on a steep beat up mountain road. Our host had his dog following the whole time running behind the SUV which was hilarious. He also joined us on the tour walk and ran alongside on the way home as well.

As for the tour, we had a great time. It was just the two of us and our host. We were about 2 weeks early for all the blooms so there was not as many flowers around as we would like, but still plenty to see. Dozens of varieties, trees, bugs, and some great views of the ocean.

Our host truly loves what he does and it shows. There is a lot of pride here and it shows. The tour did not last as long as advertised. I would say from meet up to drop off it was only about 2 hours and advertised as 3.

Bring bug spray. My wife and I had some but still got A LOT of bites. Dress for the area. Most of it is under the canopy but you spend some time out of it as well which is much hotter.

A great experience and we are happy we got to do it.