Caño Negro is off the beaten path, but worth the effort. Most visits start out at Los Chiles where you board a boat and glide up the Río Frío through canyons of green towards the everglade like Lago Caño Negro. Hundreds of tourists from the Arenal Volcano region bus in every day to tour … [Read more...]
Natural Areas & Wildlife
Costa Rica is a natural destination and this category is where you'll find our experiences and recommendations for the National Parks, Forests, Wetlands, Wildlife Refuges and Rescues that make it an ecological wonderland.
Curi Cancha Wildlife Refuge
Undiscovered & Less Crowded Cloud Forest Experience A new private reserve is as much a refuge for human visitors as the resident birds and animals. Thousands fewer people arrive at the gates each week than at its famous neighbor, Monteverde. For visitors willing to give up the cache of going … [Read more...]
Gandoca Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge
Probably about a dozen years ago Sue and I were walking the coast trail to punta Mona in Gandoca Manzanillo wildlife refuge and we started talking about all the animals we'd seen, not just that day but in all our visits to Costa Rica. I was trying to come up with some that we hadn't seen but really … [Read more...]
Guanacaste National Park
Guanacaste National Park was created in 1989 to connect Santa Rosa National Park with the high elevation cloud forest of Orosi and Cacao volcanoes and across the continental divide to the Caribbean rainforest of Northern Costa Rica. The hope is that together these two parks protect enough land to … [Read more...]
Isla Bolaños Wildlife Refuge
Isla Bolaños National Wildlife Refuge in the Bahía Salinas was established to protect nesting sites for Brown Pelicans and Magnificent Frigatebirds. The windy ridges on the southwestern side of the island are isolated from predators and provide perfect launch pads for the adult’s fishing sorties … [Read more...]
Isla del Cocos National Park
Hundreds of years ago Cocos Island was a hideout for pirates (and some say the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's, Treasure Island). Stories tell of buccaneers burying treasures here… Edward Davis in 1685, Benito Bonito in 1820, and William Thompson in 1821, but if they did leave treasure … [Read more...]
Juan Castro Blanco/Parque de Aguas National Park
Juan Castro Blanco National Park is also known as Parque de Aguas (the park of the waters) and protects mid-elevation wet forest and high altitude cloud forest on the slopes of three extinct volcano peaks, Porvenir (2,267 meters), Platanar (2,183 meters), and Viejo (2,060 meters). Currently the … [Read more...]
La Selva Biological Station & Reserve
Located in the Caribbean lowlands and bracketed by the Sarapiquí and Puerto Viejo Rivers, La Selva is covered with what is technically known as tropical pre-montane wet forest and more commonly referred to as rainforest. There is no better place in Costa Rica to learn about this ever more endangered … [Read more...]
Lankester Orchids Botanical Gardens
Lankester Gardens has a world class collection of nearly a thousand varieties of orchids displayed at eye level. The huge number of plants means you can see blooms year round, although Feb. through April is the most spectacular time to visit. The 26 acres of gardens are home to nearly 3,000 species … [Read more...]
Lomas de Barbudal Biological Reserve
Almost a quarter of the world’s bee species can be found in Lomas Barbudal (Reserva Biológica Lomas Barbudal - Bearded Hills) Biological Reserve. One of the more unique genus are the large, solitary, tunneling, Abejas Antofóridas-Centris bees that attracted G. Frankie (now at the University of … [Read more...]
Whale & Dolphin Watching
Costa Rica is One of the Best Places in the World to Spot Humpback Whales Costa Rican waters are home to dozens of marine mammal species and spotted, or bottle nose dolphins commonly escort small craft on any offshore excursion. If you take fishing or snorkeling trips you’ll most likely spot the … [Read more...]
Humpback Whales
Like all cetaceans Humpbacks are endangered. Their status varies somewhere between critical and imminent extinction depending on the list and who is making the prediction. The total world population may be as high as 50,000 which would represent a few percent of their numbers before … [Read more...]
Miravalles Volcano National Park
The Bagaces Side of Miravalles Our first ever visit started out from Fortuna de Bagaces (not the Arenal La Fortuna) and was one of the most memorable days of hiking we ever enjoyed. Our friend The Priest (his name is Climaco but The Priest is what his family and friends call him) gave us the … [Read more...]
Palo Verde National Park
Palo Verde National Park has a uniquely dichotomous character. It’s simultaneously a spectacular wetlands and one of the best examples of tropical dry forests remaining anywhere in the world. This dual nature is a result of the Río Tempisque flooding over land located in a relatively arid climate … [Read more...]
Turtle Egg Harvest
Sustainable Harvest of Sea Turtle Eggs at Ostional National Wildlife Refuge Millions of turtle eggs are legally collected and sold by the residents of the community of Ostional every nesting season under the supervision of the rangers and biologists at the refuge. There are both good and bad … [Read more...]
Santa Rosa National Park
Tropical Dry Forest Santa Rosa National Park protects some of the last remaining tropical dry forest in the world. The small patch of oak forest near the entrance to the Comelco Ranch is probably representative of the original habitat of much of the park. Ranchers burned most of the plateau … [Read more...]
Tirimbina Rainforest National Wildlife Refuge
Quite possibly our favorite place to visit the rainforest on a budget. If Finca Verde aka Finca Gavilan and Heliconias Lodge at Bijagua between Tenorio and Miravalles national parks weren't so incredible there wouldn't be any competition. Under $120 (okay so it's $119 - $59.50 each) for two … [Read more...]
Wilson Botanical Gardens
Robert and Catherine Wilson started this garden in 1963 and ten years later control was transferred to the Organization for Tropical Studies. There are more than a thousand species of plants on the grounds, and the gardens serve several purposes. They are used as a training ground for … [Read more...]
Cloud Forests
One of the most unique environments in the world survives on Costa Rica’s mountaintops. Cloud forests like Monteverde’s are formed by a combination of wind and geography. When trade winds flow from the northeast across the warm Caribbean Sea they drive moist air into the Cordillera Tilarán. … [Read more...]
Dry Forests
The tropical dry forest native to the lower elevations of Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula nearly all went through the typical progression referred to as “improvement.” The commercially valuable lumber was removed by clear cutting and everything remaining burned to open new fields. Sometimes … [Read more...]