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All 12 Bocas Town Attractions »

Oreba Chocolate Tour

Rio Oeste, Bocas Town, Isla Colon 162, Panama
66491457
Ranked #1 of 5 tours in Bocas Town
5.0 of 5 stars 26 Reviews
Type: Tours
Owner description: In the Oreba Chocolate Tour you not only get to experience one this worlds greatest inventions (chocolate), you get to view sloths, a wide variety of... more » Owner description: In the Oreba Chocolate Tour you not only get to experience one this worlds greatest inventions (chocolate), you get to view sloths, a wide variety of poison dart frogs, and sometimes even toucans. Most importantly you also see how the indigenous people live within the jungle while growing 100% certified organic shade grown cacao and making chocolate with it. The tour is more of a hike through the cacao farms and jungle where the guide goes through the surprisingly difficult process of growing, harvesting, fermenting, drying, roasting, and grinding process. You learn about what makes the farm organic, how the use of trees, plants, and animals help keep the organic system intact and how the indigenous people work within this system to produce some of the worlds finest cacao and chocolate products. The tour includes a traditional Ngobe Indian lunch consisting of local roots and it actually tastes wonderful. The tour also includes transportation to and from the "Bocas Marine Tour" boat dock, a guided tour in English (its Caribbean English) or Spanish, a traditional chocolate making demonstration in the farm, viewing of the animals, the traditional lunch, and one 4 oz bag of which ever chocolate you would like. As of right now the tour could be considered adventurous as the hike is a little steep in some spots. It is well worth it once you get to the top though as the most heavenly chocolate you have ever tasted is awaiting you at the top fresh from grinding. The tour runs in rain or shine and bringing a rain jacket is advised as this is the rain forest and things get a little wet. Also, good hiking shoes that you don't mind getting really muddy. Bringing a camera is a definite must as the chancing of seeing more than one type of poison dart frog are 100% and there is about a 95% of seeing a sloth. The tour starts at 10am and runs every day. « less
Useful Information: Activities for older children, Activities for young children
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26 reviews from our community

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Bocas Town, Panama
1 review
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 22 May 2012

This tour was the best thing I did in Bocas. It is very educational and active, but accessible to all ages. The guide is from the local Ngobe community that is formed by 100 families who all work with cacao. The lunch is delicious as well and it is a great place to buy souvenirs! Don´t forget your camera!

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Queenstown, New Zealand
Reviewer
3 reviews 3 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 15 May 2012

This chocolate tour was the best find in this area. They take you through the chocolate farm and you learn how they live off the land with the different plants and trees plus the chocolate process. The real chocolate tasted amazring as we brought some to take home. They asked for ideas to improve the tour I couldn't think at... More

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1 review
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 11 May 2012 via mobile

This tour was our favorite out of all of the tours listed here on trip advisor! This tour is a great value as you get to actual immerse yourself in local Panamanian life. You get to see how Panamanian's live off of the natural products of their land. The guides walk you through the breathe taking trails with many wonderful... More

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not here
Reviewer
5 reviews 5 reviews
Reviews in 3 cities Reviews in 3 cities
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 23 April 2012

Just do the tour, its a great way to spend part of the day. There is only one guide who does the tours and you can tell he really cares about the community and wants to share with visitors. I'd never thought that chocolate would be so interesting and lunch was good as well! Take the tour and buy some... More

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See 2 more reviews by SwimFish26 for Bocas Town
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
Senior Reviewer
6 reviews 6 reviews
Reviews in 4 cities Reviews in 4 cities
3 helpful votes 3 helpful votes
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 23 April 2012

The Oreba Chocolate Tour is a great experience. You start with a hike through the fields where the cocoa is grown and along the way see the preparation that goes into drying and fermenting the beans. The guide explains all of the phases of the process and points out many interesting facets of both the cocoa plant and other plant... More

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See 2 more reviews by Fauster for Bocas Town
World Traveler
Reviewer
5 reviews 5 reviews
Reviews in 5 cities Reviews in 5 cities
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 23 April 2012

I would like to highly recommend the Oreba Chocolate Tour in Bocas del Toro. It's more than just a couple hours of touring an organic, sustainable cacao farm. Because of the land's rich biodiversity, you will also be introduced to many other tropical fruit plants, herbs, and even sloths, exotic frogs and more. Samuel, our tour guide, has been living... More

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New York City, New York
2 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
3 helpful votes 3 helpful votes
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 5 February 2012
2
people found this review helpful

We just returned from Bocas and this was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. We were picked up by Samuel and taken by taxi to the start of the tour (included in cost of the tour). There, we were met by Jack and Mauricio and they led us through. Jack and Mauricio only speak Spanish but Samuel does... More

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Calgary, Canada
Senior Reviewer
7 reviews 7 reviews
Reviews in 3 cities Reviews in 3 cities
7 helpful votes 7 helpful votes
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 1 February 2012
2
people found this review helpful

This tour was one of my favorite in our travels to Panama. The tour guide was really informative not only about the cocao trees and the whole process of making chocolate but also about the plants, fruits and animals in their area. English is his second language and spoke very well for only starting the tours less than a year... More

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See 4 more reviews by 32CanadianTraveller for Bocas Town
Madison, WI
Senior Contributor
42 reviews 42 reviews
Reviews in 20 cities Reviews in 20 cities
12 helpful votes 12 helpful votes
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 23 January 2012
2
people found this review helpful

We took the chocolate tour with our two young (1 and 4 years old) children. It was great. The groups are very small (it was only us) and we learned a lot about the process of growing and processing chocolate. This is the real thing - hand grown, hand roasted, hand processed - and the 90% cocao chocolate they served... More

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Montevideo, Uruguay
1 review
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 18 January 2012

This is a very enjoyable, instructive and delicious experience, that you can enjoy with your family (including children). There is nothing 'staged' here, it's all authentic. You'll learn a lot about where the chocolate came from, and taste cacao in many forms (from the fruit, through the toasted beans, to the actual chocolate). Besides that, you'll enjoy amazing views, will... More

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