Wildlifeof Costa Rica
Places
Where to see Costa Rica's wildlife, from the Caribbean lowlands and highland cloud forest to Guanacaste dry forest and the Osa Peninsula.
Why the Caribbean lowlands
Wet, hot and green all year, the Caribbean side holds Costa Rica's biggest lowland rainforest. Canals and trails at Tortuguero, La Selva and Braulio Carrillo are the best places in the country for sloths, monkeys, poison dart frogs, great green macaws and a long list of rainforest birds, and its beaches host nesting sea turtles.
Why the northern plains
Around the Arenal volcano the rainforest meets cooler cloud forest and a huge lake, while the wetlands of the far north fill with waterbirds and caimans in the dry season. Both are productive and easy to reach from La Fortuna.
Why the dry forest
The north-west has a long dry season. Trees drop their leaves, animals gather at water and wildlife is easier to see than in the rainforest: howler monkeys, white-faced capuchins, coatis, magpie-jays, motmots and raptors, with olive ridley and leatherback turtles nesting on the Pacific beaches.
Why the highlands
The Talamanca and Central Volcanic ranges hold mist-wrapped cloud forest where the resplendent quetzal, hummingbirds, tanagers, bellbirds and many frogs and salamanders live. Cool, wet and often cloudy, it rewards patience and early starts.
Why the central Pacific
Where tropical dry forest turns to wet forest, the central Pacific has easy access to scarlet macaws, white-faced capuchins, squirrel monkeys, sloths and a rich list of birds, within reach of San Jose.
Why the Osa Peninsula
The Osa Peninsula holds a large share of Costa Rica's species in a very small area. Corcovado is among the wildest rainforests in Central America, with tapirs, jaguars, all four monkeys and scarlet macaws, and humpback whales visit offshore in season.
Why Cocos Island
A remote Pacific island about 550 km out to sea, Cocos is a protected marine wilderness famous for hammerhead and other sharks, rays and seabirds. It is visited only by live-aboard dive boats; day visits are not possible.