Costa Rica Ecotourism Ideas From the Caribbean to the Pacific

Posted by seolink on June 15th, 2010 filed in Global Warming

Costa Rica eco tourism takes many forms, is enjoyed or experienced in different ways, affects tourists in different ways, and yields 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 amazing biological diversity. In a nation the size of 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 latin american country.

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

The world’s greatest Green Sea Turtle preserve is found along the Caribbean Coast at Tortuguero National 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 visit  the same beaches that Christopher Columbus sailed past more than five centuries ago and where, just a few miles south, he landed and named Costa Rica.

On the northern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, perhaps the most popular destination for Costa Rica tourists lie a couple of small beaches 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) swim in its offshore waters—and humpback whales from Antarctica travel north to Costa Rica while humpback whales from the Arctic travel south to the same waters.  Whale watching has become very popular in recent years, in part, because Costa Rica has the longest humpback whale watching season anywhere in the world.

For hardy hikers, there’s wild Corcovado National Park.  Though it is just 20 miles long and 8 miles wide, it has been called “the most biologically intense place” on earth 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.