Everything But The Weed

Approved by:
Linda Maze, a Wedding photography Gainesville FL in Gainesville Florida

Eco tourism in Costa Rica takes many forms, is enjoyed or experienced differently, affects tourists in different ways, and produces diverse societal consequences-some obvious, some not. And, indeed, the phrase “eco tourism” brings different images to mind in different people.

For many, Costa Rica ecotourism brings to mind experiencing the country’s extraordinary biological variety. In a nation about as big as little West Virginia, comprising about 1/10,000 of the globe’s land surface, nearly 5% of all the world’s species of plants and animals on earth are found in this Central American nation.

 You’ll find more kinds of butterflies in tiny Costa Rica than on the whole continent of Africa. And,almost as many kinds of birds have been identified in its forests and lands as in the continental United States—nearly 900!  For best results, consider a Costa Rica photography tour where you may get a picture of a lifetime.

The earth’s greatest Green Marine Turtle preserve is off the Caribbean Coast at Tortuguero Park.  Sometimes more than 30,000 turtles come ashore to nest on the deserted beaches.  This wild, remote park has become a popular eco tourist destination even though it can only be reached by boat.  For an enormously enriching experience involving Costa Rica ecotourism Tortuguero Park can’t be beat. You’ll see  the same beaches that Christopher Columbus sailed past more than 500 years ago and where, just a few miles south, he landed and named Costa Rica.

On the Pacific “Gold Coast” of Costa Rica, perhaps the most popular destination for Costa Rica tourists lies Ostional beach where Olive Ridley sea turtles come ashore in massive “arribadas” (Spanish for “arrivals”).  Sometimes hundreds of thousands come ashore over a period of weeks in one of nature’s last remaining marine turtle migrations and spectacles. 

More than a third of the world’s species of cetaceans (whales and porpoises) can be seen off its coasts—and humpback whales from Antarctica travel north to Costa Rica while humpback whales from the Arctic travel south to the same waters.  Whale watching is becoming very popular in recent years, in part, because Costa Rica has the longest humpback whale watching season on the globe.

For hardy hikers, there’s wild Corcovado National Park.  Though it is only 20 miles long and 8 miles wide, it has been referred to as “the most biologically intense place” on the planet by National Geographic.  Adventurous folks who take in this magnificent gem on their Costa Rica vacations  find monkeys, tapirs, the largest remaining scarlet macaw population in Central America, and six types of wild cats, including pumas and the mighty jaguar.  And, just off its coast lies some of the country’s best fishing at Drake Bay, named for Sir Frances Drake, who anchored here just a few years before he was called upon by Queen Elizabeth I to defend England from the mighty Spanish Armada.