By Franco Cartín

If you ask someone in the street where to find exotic animals, the helpless answer could be: I don’t know. (In this moment, a group of parrots could cross the sky). It is not that they don’t know, for costarican people, who live in this little country and see these animals continuously; it would be difficult to explain where to find them, because they never have to search for it.

It is a fact that Costa Rica is considered to be one of the most diverse regions in the world and it is estimated that 4% of the living species could be found here, and this in a global extension of only 0.01 %. For example, one should be mentioned that you can find 295 trees in an area of 3,860 square miles in Costa Rica, whereas Colombia has 35 species and Brasil 6 species. In general, the tourists are traveling miles to tropical countries, hope to find many rare animals and quickly they are disillusioned. There are places where to go takes you a long journey and a lot of money, only to see an Ara. That’s why the best recommendation for you is: Come to Costa Rica! Because in this, a bit more than 20,072 square miles of an exuberant earth, green forests and many more as you can imagine...animals, fishes, birds and amphibians...all is free, in the wilderness.

Really Noah’s arc

To enjoy the natural beauty of Costa Rica, you don’t need to have hours of an adventure trip to the mountains, everything is here, within easy walking distance, if you are observing and patient, you can discover a lot, even in the garden of your house or hotel. Any beetles which seems to be dry leafs, butterflies in beautiful colors that look like the face of an eagle-owl and insects which seems to be walking twigs and you have to take care not to clash with a “machaca” (a kind of a grasshopper, specie of Fulgoridae), because it’s a tradition, when some strings you, in the next 24 hours you have to make love with somebody or you could die. That is what people say in the country, or could it be an excuse?

The case which cannot be excused is to come to Costa Rica without visiting any of the most representative national parks of every zone, where you find forests, animals, plants and the climate of every part of the country. In this zone you don’t find only insects, also every kind of big animals like ocelots, jaguars, tapirs, also different kinds of monkeys, sloths, the bird “Quetzal” and many more. It is like Noah had unloaded all his cargo in the forests and at the coasts of Costa Rica, and that way, everyone of the parks, reserves and places of refuge accommodates its characteristic animals and plants, as I said, and you can make a choice what kind of park you want to visit, depending on the flora or fauna you like to observe. Among them, we advise you to visit the following zones and you can be sure to feel like a passenger of Noah’s arc in a small version, but in the forest or deep in the sea.

Cordillera Volcánica Central

In this zone you can find the highest quality of the land’s habitants and in the forests and reserves, the most indescribable natural beauty. That’s why; it’s easy to see groups of parrots fly over the cities Alajuela, Heredia or San José, the capital. In this near villages one can discover every type of birds, raccoons and squirrels in the courtyards up to sloths, in the branches of trees or on pylons. With nearly 20 national parks and forestall reserves around the four principal cities; humid forest and rainforest, fauna reserves and protected zones are accessible to you, just a few minutes away, and you can observe roaring monkeys, whiteface monkeys, toucans, quetzals, tapirs, deers and with a lot of silence and luck, ocelots and jaguars. In places like the national parks Braulio Carrillo, Guayabo and volcans like Barva, Turrialba or Poás, the beautiful scenery is the same way impressive like the fauna that is to discover.

The Caribbean, endless luxuriant vegetation

The province Limón offers a world full of sensations, flavors, tradition and nature, that can be divided in two big areas:
Tortuguero: Where the canals are the habitat for the green turtles to spawn, one can see sea cows, crocodiles, wading birds and monkeys. To observe this animals you need to go by boat, because there are no ways which could damage the fauna in her naturality, it is like this in Tortuguero, the refuges Barra del Colorado, Guácimo or Pococí, and others.

The Southern Caribbean: Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Cahuita and Gandoca Manzanillo are places where the culture of the blacks, the Chinese, the whites and natives joined together into one unique taste. With 90% of the land’s flora, the Caribbean offers endless possibilities to enjoy the marine fauna, corals and fishing. In the forests you can find all kinds of monkeys, jaguars, Aras, parrots and tapirs. All in all, one shouldn’t miss this place.

North zone and the Arenal: Birds and volcan

Not many places have an agro industrial development and an environmentally awareness like the North zone, as well: The only refuge to protect the “Lapa Verde”, the green Ara in the country..., in it’s plains one can observe birds like hawks, parrots and the Ara’s. In it’s many refuges and volcanic parks you can see colonies of birds, while you take a bath in little lakes with sulphurous water, after a horse-riding inside the birds refuge, lake parks or humid areas.

Guanacaste and Tempisque: Birds sanctuaries and mangroves

Cradle of folklore, tortilla and stories of “sabaneros”. Probably this is one of the most protected zones in Costa Rica, by the reserves, parks and refuges of Fauna Silvestre. Inside, an enorm quantity of birds of passage and species of swamp and mangroves are accommodated. At the side arms of the Tempisque river it’s easy to see herons, cranes and Brasilian storks; living together with crocodiles, deers and snakes. This incomparable attractions are to find in the areas of Palo Verde and Barbudal, for birds; islands and coasts for marine fauna. Also the legendary Cabo Blanco makes this place of Guanacaste to something you should visit and enjoy.

The peninsula Osa and the mysterious South. Here, the rich sea combines it’s beauty with the forest. Sea and forest unite into one of the unique zones and with the greatest endemicity on earth. In the sea park we saw even births of wales, between islands and seabirds. The earth around..., the river Sierpe use the scenario to show a mood of the nature: The national park Corcovado of the peninsula Osa, where endangered species walk in the forest of the coast; there we saw jaguars, giant anteaters and Aras, frogs, monkeys, crocodiles and tapirs which are worth a trip there. From the plane and humid regions, the South let us climb up to more than 10,496 feets to present us the most imposing mountain Chirripó, here, one can find the species of this highest habitat, the salamanders and small lizards.

All in all, Costa Rica accommodate animal species, you can’t believe that they exist, and they are here: hidden in the forests or the savannahs, between trees and corals, solely waiting for you.