Sep 15, 2024
Great experience! - Absolutely fantastic time!
We did the Monkeyland with ATV tour 9/10/2024. Hendry was our guide, he was so nice and did a fantastic job pointing out things of interest.
You are not allowed to take in personal belongings into the monkey enclosure (cell phone is ok) so they do have lockers available for use. Either take a small lock with you or you can purchase one for $5 usd.
The monkey's were just awesome! Cuteness overload! The time spent with the monkey's was probably a good 30 min or more. The staff takes many pictures of you/your group that you can purchase after if you want. We got over 20 pics for $30 usd. I felt the price was pretty reasonable, way better value than a single pic at Disney.
We did the ATV tour as well. ATVs are newer and in great shape. Never felt unsafe or like it would breakdown. PJ and the rest of the staff were great. They take you out for a little drive in the city, then it's off into the trail to the river where you spend maybe 30 min at the river. The staff takes pics along the trail, again available for purchase of $30 usd for all pics and we got at least 20 pics. As it's just me & my husband traveling, it's nice to get pics with us both in them that aren't selfies.
In between & along the way there are stops to sample cigars, mamajuana, pineapple wine, coffee, cocoa and oils. Multiple shopping options for each. My opinion, all the prices were reasonable.
We really enjoyed our whole experience and would definitely recommend!
My advice to others...take an extra shirt with you. The monkey's may pee/poop on you. Although I walked away clean, my husband got peed on. No biggie as animals do what animals do and we already had extra clothes with us in case we got muddy.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 24, 2024
Fun experience - The monkeys are so friendly and so cute!! The buggies are awesome!! They definitely make this an unforgettable experience! Definitely would recommend!
Review provided by Viator
Jul 18, 2024
Highly recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Awesome adventure! My girls really enjoyed the moneyland the most! All in all we enjoy the whole day. Was an great experience! Highly recommend for everyone. PJ was one fun guy made the experience fun!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 14, 2024
Favorite excursion - Highly highly recommend this excursion!! We did 4 excursions during our trip to Punta Cana and this one was our favorite! Such a cool experience with the BEST TOUR GUIDE, PJ!
The staff truly made this experience so much fun and we felt very safe as well!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jun 20, 2024
Great time - From the time we got on the bus sexy papi made us laugh and truly goes above and beyond to make sure you have a great experience. While there we had PJ who also goes out of his way to make sure you have a great experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 21, 2024
The most honest review you’ll ever read (trust 😎) - This is the most honest review you will ever read!!
First things first I want to give a huge shout out to PJ. He made our experience absolutely amazing. Incredible. So funny so entertaining. He is the star of the show. PJ WE LOVE YOU!!! Santiago and Henry were our drivers and tour guide, and they were also amazing and very informative.
I want to preface this by saying that I read a lot of mixed reviews, and I am definitely a review person. So Lets start off with Monkeyland. If you want to interact with some cute little squirrel monkeys its so worth it!!! I think people are a little unrealistic when booking these excursions and they forget that there are multiple people booking the same excursion. So if you think you’re gonna get to spend quality time with the squirrel monkeys, you’re wrong. You are obviously in a big group, and the monkeys are trained to go where the food is. I think the tour guides do an exceptional job and making sure everybody gets multiple turns Feeding the monkeys, getting to touch the monkeys and interact with them and also getting good photo ops. The monkeys will naturally gravitate to you sometimes or jump on you. Its really a great experience, but dont have unrealistic expectations coming here that youre going to have one on one time with the monkeys. Its not happening.
In between you’ll visit the casa de coco where they teach you how they make coffee, mamajuana, they feed you some empanadas and a hot dog and some fresh fruit. If you dont want that, bring your own snacks! You’ll also learn how they roll cigars, and again, ive read some out of pocket reviews. Like you arent just waiting in the hot sun doing nothing. Youre learning about the dominican culture. If that bores you, dont go. I personally think its disrespectful to visit another country and be annoyed about learning about their* culture?? Theres nothing they can do about it being hot… youre in DR… visit somewhere cold?! Just being real.
Then you go to the buggies and it is SO fun and SO exciting!! We got lucky cause it rained so we got so wet and muddy. Dont wear white and dont bring clothes you dont care to mess up. And bring a bandana and glasses so you dont get mud all in your mouth and face. Another thing, yes its not offroading and you are behind other people. It is what it is. Again, these are excursions. Theyre guided tours. They have to make sure everyone stays safe. And people dont like to follow directions… so theres that. But I had sooo much fun. Its all about your perspective and how you see things in life. Think good, good will come. Thats how I see life.
Overall, 10/10 excursion, experience. We made friends, had a blast, got muddy, played with some super cute squirrel monkeys, and made some amazing memories. Id recommend to everyone! And one more time PJ WE LOVE YOU!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 17, 2024
Amazing tour - Everything about it was wonderful . I would highly recommend to try that excursion out I learn a lot about the country
Review provided by Viator
Aug 18, 2024
Worth it for Monkeyland - MONKEYLAND:
This was my favorite of the two activities because the monkeys are so cute. They take you in big groups and line you up with a bowl in your hand. The guides come around leaving a small piece of food so the squirrel monkeys can come to you for photos and video opportunities. The monkeys are light and gentle but they will climb all over you like a tree lol.
BUGGIES:
P.J. Papi Junior was the best guide, he was the most attentive and entertaining! It was raining when we went which made the ride more fun. There will be areas where you drive over puddles of mud so be prepared to get dirty. The photographer does a great job capturing all your driving moments, which can be purchased for $40.
ANAMUYA RIVER:
We ended at the river so this was a great opportunity to wash up a bit. However, it was raining a bit so it got a little chilly.
In between each activity we learned about tobacco, sugar cane and cocoa processing in DR. There was a lot of groups doing different combination of activities so it seems like these cultural learnings was a good way of filling the waiting time.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 14, 2024
Great Guides! Too much focus on tips and selling goods! - Overall, DR is very lush and beautiful. The bus driver picked us up and drove us shy of an hour to the Monkeyland tour. First stop gift shop. Then a safety briefing and next the cutest spider monkeys you’ll ever see. Lots of photo opportunities and plenty of monkeys jumping from person to person eating seeds and fruit. They’re just adorable, and the experience was great start to finish. Then back to gift shop, opportunity to buy pictures, bathrooms to wash hands and waiting area. Next was the coconut house. A 5-10 minute walk with stops explaining the different plants. Plenty of cultural information about sugar cane, and mamajuana (their special drink made of honey, sangria and rum). A tasting of pineapple wine and mamajuana. Another walk to a cigar making hut and gift shop with Cigars and mamajuana items. Back down the bumpy walkway to a waiting area. Filled out paperwork relinquishing them of all responsibilities. Then took us down to safety briefing for the Buggy portion of our excursion. Opportunity to buy bandannas for $5 usd. Per person. (very dusty ride so bring cover for your face and eyes) Then onto buggies. We rode up and down the street. Kind of strange. Then back past where we started and into some lush jungle area. Pit stop for lunch. (Eat before you go, unless you want a hotdog ) ( on TripAdvisor they advertise a vegan hotdog or hotdog, NO vegan option was available) Benches in another area where we ate and tasted arabica coffee and hot cocoa. They talked about the culture (some redundancy) and process and let us sample fragrant oil spray. No shock here, another opportunity to buy lotions, oils, vanilla, honey, mamajuana. Finally back on the buggies. This time off roading into the jungle towards the river. A small swoosh through some water (they use this as main advertisement photo but it’s 2 seconds of the excursion), we parked, and a chance to dip into the river for 15 minutes. Water felt refreshing and breathed life back into me for our short ride back to park the buggies at the end of the excursion. But wait wait….another walk to the cigar gift shop to look at photos taken along the buggy ride. Lastly we load the bus back to our resorts. Some notes: every pit stop along the excursion was tip jar after tip jar along with the bus that drove us there and back. I get it, but good grief it’s old after each person hands the group off to the next with the same expectation.
We were scheduled to be picked up at 7:00am, got message saying 7:40am. Dropped off at resort around 3:15pm
Overall - great day outside of resort. Weather was perfect! Excursions were fun but maybe less trying to squeeze money. Then it would have been even better. If you have a hard time walking up and down inclines and on uneven paths, don’t do this. It’s a lot of walking, about 2 miles total.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jun 13, 2024
Our Day with Runners Adventure - A great excursion. PJ host was humorous and very knowledgeable. A great learning experience. The buggies ride was very adventurous. The creek was great for getting in the water and cooling off. You learn alot about their coco, honey is made. The squirrel monkeys was an awesome experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor