Travel bucket list idea:
Cahuita, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Just outside the laid-back little one-street village of Cahuita, this Atlantic coastal national park protects long sandy beaches, beautiful offshore reefs and crocodile-filled creeks and rivers.
Ocelots live in the rainforest behind the coast and Cahuita is an important turtle-nesting ground.
The park has exceptional biodiversity and species variety because it is contiguous with the huge UNESCO World Heritage listed Parque Internacional La Amistad (shared with neighbouring Panama) and the Refugio Nacional Gandoca-Manzanillo; together they make one of the largest wilderness areas on the Caribbean coast of Central America.
Limon Province, Costa Rica
Experience
One of the world’s only rehabilitation and rescue centre for sloths, where you’ll see adult and baby two and three-toed sloths. Fascinating tours – which keep the project alive – include behind-the-scenes visits to the nursery, where rescued babies are weaned.
Adult price: £23
Good for age: 4+
Limon Province, Costa Rica
Experience
These on-foot night safaris, led by a wildlife local expert guide, aren’t just about tarantulas. Nights are the best times to see nocturnal mammals like kinkajou – a kind of Central American bushbaby, and a host of rare birds from nightjars to huge owls. Arachnophobes should have no fear – the spiders are shy – disappearing quickly unless you tread very lightly.
Adult price: £20
Good for age: 8+
Duration: 2 hours
The park is very easy to access. It extends over a peninsula immediately outside the little village of Cahuita on the south of the Costa Rican Caribbean coast.
The nearest airport is in Limón town (daily flights from San José, 40 mins), which is linked by bus to Cahuita (50 mins) or taxi (30 mins). Cahuita is a small village and never gets very busy.
While expert wildlife tours can be organised through local operators in Puerto Viejo or Cahuita villages, the national park can easily be visited independently on foot simply by walking along the beaches immediately east of Cahuita village itself.
Tours available include night safaris in the forest and there is a sloth rehabilitation centre next to the park.
While it can rain at any time, Cahuita is driest September through October and February through March. These are the best times to spot wildlife and enjoy sunny days on the beach and is when most tourists visit.
July is the wettest month. Turtles nest between March and November, and in the largest number in July.
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Limon
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