The Untamed Beauty of Tortuguero National Park

It's a clear night in Tortuguero National Park. From your perch on the deck of the luxurious Tortuga Lodge, you watch as glowing red boulders tumble in slow motion from the mouth of Arenal Volcano. Your skin is still soft to the touch from the sulfur-rich water of Dona Mireya's private hot spring. A dip was exactly what you needed after a long afternoon of biking. And now, to top the day off with your own personal fireworks display…? Seems almost too good to be true.

While Tortuguero National Park may be difficult to reach (it's accessible only by airplane or boat) the good news is it's not too good to be true. It's a real-life naturalists' paradise – teeming with wildlife and untamed natural beauty.

Tortuguero National Park extends north along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica across 47,000 acres of lush rainforest, swamps, canals, beaches and lagoons. It's bordered by the sea to the east and the volcanic hills of Coronel, Caño Moreno and the Sierpe Peaks to the west. Tortuguero’s beaches are key nesting ground for endangered hawksbill, loggerhead, green and leatherback sea turtles.

Rivers within Tortuguero National Park are home to sensitive populations of manatees, caimans, crocodiles, and tropical gar, considered a living fossil. Forests are home to spider, howler, and white-faced capuchin monkeys, jaguars and three-toed sloths. Basilisk lizards and poisonous frogs also inhabit the area, along with 375 species of birds, including kingfishers, toucans, blue herons, peacocks and parrots. There are more than 400 species of trees and approximately 2,200 species of plants inside Tortuguero National Park.

There's no better way to explore Tortuguero than with a professional naturalist guide on a small group adventure tour. Relax your mind, energize your body ignite the adventurer within with Austin-Lehman on one of our Costa Rica vacations.

Did You Know…

Tortuguero National Park – one of the most varied within the park system – has 11 ecological habitats, from high rainforest to herbaceous marsh communities.
Hawksbill turtles have a natural defense against ending up in turtle soup. Their flesh and skin are highly toxic and as of today, no antidote exists.
Green turtles are named for the color of their flesh rather than their shell. Their nesting season extends from July to October.
Heliconias are common in Tortuguero. Their flowers look like clusters of lobster claws and are pollinated by hummingbirds.
Ceiba tree seeds are encased in fibers called kap
Tortuguero's fragile manatee population is endangered and was thought to be extinct until a population was located in remote lagoons within Tortuguero.

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