Nature Tour in Costa Rica
         April 18-24, 2009

Costa Rica is the #1 destination worldwide for nature travel. This tour provides you the opportunity to explore the natural beauty of the Southern Caribbean and Turrialba regions, two of the most natural and interesting places in Costa often overlooked in standard tours. You will have a full-time Costa Rican naturalist guide and U.S. Tour Escort -- our Associate, Dr. Frank Rutowski, a veterinarian with a specialty in tropical birds.

Tour Highlights:

• Rainforest walks

• Guayabo National Monument (archaeological site)

• CATIE: World-renowned fruit tree collection
  and birding tour with mist net

• Tayutic Hacienda - a traditional working farm
  producing cofee, macadamia nuts, and sugar cane

• Sloth Refuge—only one in the world

• Leatherback Turtle Nesting tour

• Cahuita National Park & Coral Reef

• Selva Bananito Eco-Reserve

• Costa Flores Flower Center

• La Tiquicia Dinner & Folkdance Show
   

Day 1: After your arrival in San Jose you have a private guided motorcoach transfer to the delightful mountain Guayabo Lodge where you have a welcome cocktail, tour orientation and dinner.

Day 2: After breakfast at the lodge, your guide will lead a rainforest hike to Guayabo National Monument, Costa Rica’s foremost excavated indigenous village in the heart of the rainforest.  You will feel like “Indiana Jones” discovering this seldom-visited site that dates back 3,000 years.  After 25 years of digs, still only about 15% of the original settlement has been uncovered.   

Next, you will tour and have lunch at Tayutic Hacienda. You will see how sugarcane, coffee and macadamia nuts are processed using traditional and present-day methods. You will also learn about the historical importance of these crops for Costa Rica.  On the farm you see a little church built in the beginning of the 20^th Century, beautiful gardens, and some of the most spectacular scenery in the country.

In the afternoon you visit CATIE (Center for Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education) and its world-famous fruit tree collection.  A specially prepared exhibit will be made for your group with the many tropical fruits that you probably have never seen before.  There will also be an opportunity to enjoy bird watching at the lake, which is one of the best birding venues in the region.  They will also put out their mist nets that are used in their research projects.

Day 3:  Today, we head to the Southern Caribbean and tour  Aviarios del Caribe, the only sloth refuge and rehabilitation center in the world.  About 40 sloths are being taken care of, including the world-famous Buttercup who arrived as the first sloth orphan when only three months old in 1992. The Center has the long-term goal of rehabilitating and returning as many sloths as possible back into the wild. 

You will have free time to enjoy the beach and swimming in the Caribbean Sea while at your hotel located in a rainforest setting.

In the evening you go on a leatherback turtle nesting tour at the The Cahuita-Playa Negra project. This project  is attempting to protect turtle eggs, in order to re-establish a viable population of sea turtles.

Day 4:  Cahuita National Park is best known for the coral reefs close to shore. In the dry season, there is good snorkeling from the beach, and you are likely to see light yellow brain, elkhorn, and blue staghorn corals, sea fans, and gorgonians as a back drop to the more than 500 species of fish endemic to the reefs. Afterwards, you will transfer to your eco-lodge in the Talamanca Mountains.

Day 5: In the morning after breakfast you enjoy a guided nature walk through the rainforest grounds of the Selva Bananito Eco-Lodge.  Your afternoon is free to enjoy the lush settings or to participate in an optional activity: introductory tree climbing, horseback riding or a canopy/zipline tour.

Day 6:  Today you transfer back to San Jose with a stop at Costa Flores, once the largest flower exporter in the world, it is now one of the largest garden center featuring over 600 varieties of palms and tropical flowers, including over 120 varieties of colorful heliconias. Stroll along the flat trails surrounded by beautiful gardens, ponds, fountains, small waterfalls, and hummingbirds. 

Next, it's on to Moravia for shopping at its many craft shops. In the evening you attend a dinner and folklore dance show with a spectacular view of the valley below..

Day 7:  You transfer to the international airport in San Jose for your flight home.          

Click here for complete itinerary

COST:  $1895  per person, double occupancy ($2095 in single).  Includes: 6 nights hotels;  all 17 meals (6B,5L,6D), ground transfers to multiple locations; itinerary activities, full-time Costa Rican naturalist guide and a U.S. tour escort. Cost does not include airfare or airport exit tax (currently $26). 

 

THIS UNIQUE TOUR IS LIMITED
TO 15 PASSENGERS TO GIVE YOU
THE BEST POSSIBLE NATURE EXPERIENCE.

Costa Rica Tours, Ltd.
info@costaricatoursltd.com
704.541.8680