Blogs from Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 4

Interested in "ecotourism"?! Then your premier point of destination is arguably Tortuguero, Costa Rica. My first visit to Tortuguero came about when I had family visiting from the United States. The August visit of my 13 year old daughter, my mother and my ex-father-in-law put Tortuguero on my short list of in-country trips due to the seasonal nesting of Green Sea Turtles from July through October (Leatherback Sea Turtles nest in Tortuguero from March to May). Located in the Caribbean North area of Costa Rica, Tortuguero features; rainforests, rivers, canals, swamps, beaches and lagoons. Home to 57 species of amphibians, 111 species of reptiles, 309 species of birds, 30 species of fresh water fish, 60 species of mammals and untold numbers of plant and insect species - Tortuguero is definitely a one-stop showcase of what Costa ... read more

We are still in Tortuguero. Our turtle tour was a bust, only got to see the turtle leaving the beach after eggs were laid. So, the guide is taking us again tonight since she messed the tour up last night. That is okay, we have another day in paradise. Anyway, the internet here is very slow. Will upload photos again when we get to our next destination. I have added a few other photos to yesterdays entry, check them out. ... read more

Day 198: Journey into the Jungle Having been prewarned about the rather limited supply of cashpoints on the Caribbean coast, I thought I'd be on the safe side and get a bit more cash out before heading east. The fact that streets don't have names in Costa Rica and that all navigation needs to be done using local landmarks proved to be a bit of a problem as a newcomer (with no knowledge of local landmarks), as I head into town in search of a bank. I left the hostel at half-seven, trying to remember where I was going so that I could find my way back. One hour and two banks later and I couldn't find anywhere that would take my card, although miraculously I managed to find the hostel again (address: 250 metres east ... read more

Etwas abseits der Zivilisation liegt Tortuguero. Es gibt keine Autos, die Strassen sind Erdwege. Dafuer gibt es jede Menge Natur und einen Fussballplatz. Mit dem Boot kamen wir nach einer 1-stuendigen, rasanten Fahrt durch den Urwald an, waehrend der wir schon viele Tiere sehen konnten. Das Quartier lag gleich neben dem Strand. Leider war der Wellengang uns zu stark. So haben wir nur unsere Fuesse in die Brandung gesteckt. Wir hatten eine deutsche Biologien als Guide, die mit uns den naechsten Tag verbrachte. In aller Fruehe paddelten wir in die Tiefe des Urwaldes. In 3 Stunden konnten wir fuer uns seltene wilde Tiere beobachten. Manche waren zum Greifen nahe. Affen, Basiliken, eine Boa, ein paar Kaimane und ein Nasenbaer. Ein paar Voegel und Schmetterlinge flatterten vorbei. Nach einer kurzen Verschnaufpause ging es weiter zu Fuss durch ... read more

From Hugh - On our way to Tortuguero we passed banana plantations and stopped at a place called Tropical World. When we stopped at Tropical World, we thought it was one of the usual tourist traps. The bus was stopping for 20-30 mins so we had little choice but to pay the $1 to get in. It turned out that there were lots of different animals and plants to enjoy together with an informative guide. In the end 30 minutes wasn't enough. We later boarded a boat for what turned out to be a 2 hour journey to Tortuguero (for some reason we changed boats half way, after 15 mins in the second boat the 'captain' decided there was a problem with the engine so we had to backtrack and switch back to the original boat!) ... read more