Description
Tortuguero is often called Costa Rica's little Amazon: a maze of canals, lagoons and dark-water rivers wrapped in rainforest, where wildlife is everywhere and the only way in is by boat. This full-day excursion takes you from the Central Valley to this remote corner of the Caribbean coast to experience it in a single unforgettable day.
We leave at dawn and cross Braulio Carrillo National Park, where the highway winds through mountains cloaked in primary forest, tree ferns and waterfalls spilling from the slopes. After a traditional breakfast on the Caribbean lowlands, we pass vast banana plantations before reaching the dock, where our boat is waiting.
The ride through the canals is pure magic. On both sides the jungle mirrors itself in the water, and your guide points out caimans motionless on the banks, sloths hanging in cecropia trees, howler, spider and white-faced monkeys, river turtles basking in the sun, basilisk lizards sprinting across the surface, and a symphony of herons, kingfishers, toucans and oropendolas.
In Tortuguero we enjoy a Caribbean-style lunch with rice and beans simmered in coconut milk before exploring the village, a car-free cluster of brightly painted houses facing the sea. We then walk a National Park trail that leads to the beach, the very shore where green sea turtles nest each season, and learn about the conservation effort that turned this place into a global symbol. As the afternoon fades, the boat and the road carry us back to the Central Valley with a head full of rainforest.
