Tortuguero National Park
Located in the extreme northeast of Costa
Rica, Tortuguero Tropical Moist to Wet Forest
is accessible only by small plane or boat,
along the famous Tortuguero Canals. This
system of rivers and man-made channels parallels
the coast and cuts through beautiful primary
forest.
We travelled for 4 hours (last hour on rough
stoney roads) passing through Cariari to
meet our boat at noon. We enjoyed a snack
and drinks as we travelled by boat for 1
hour to Tortuga Lodge, where we were met
with a hearty lunch.
One of the wettest regions in the country,
it is also one of the areas with the greatest
biological diversity with eleven different
defined habitats. These include high rainforest,
littoral woodland, slope forest, swamp forest,
holillo forest, herbaceous swamp and herbaceous
lagoon. Mammals, birds and fish are numerous.
Most exploring is done by small boat although
some hiking trails are available.
We enjoyed a morning boat trip along the
canals and saw many birds and wildlife. Whilst
at the hotel we were visited by 3 types of
iguana - green, black and orange and a 10ft
crocodile swam up the canal past the hotel.
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| Canal |
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| Canal |
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| Canal |
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| View from Lodge to 'airport' |
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| Our flight back |
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| View from airfield |
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| Caribbean coast |
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| Caribbean coast |
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Tortuguero gets it name from the Spanish word for turtle
and its long, straight 22 miles expanse of
beach is the most important nesting site
in the entire western half of the Caribbean
for the green turtle. Other species of sea
turtles that also nest on the wide beaches
of the park and refuge are the leatherback
and hawksbill. Hawksbill, loggerheads, and
Pacific Green turtles nest from July through
October. The Leatherback, the largest sea
turtle species in the world, nests from February
to July.
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