Osa Peninsula Wildlife

The world-famous Osa Peninsula has been described as one of the most biologically intense places on our planet by no less an authority than National Geographic. It is the "Last Great Peninsula", truly untouched by the ravages of civilization. Here you will find the ancient rainforest with over 350 species of birds, 115 species of reptiles, 750 species of trees and 10,000 species of insects...along with the 100,000 acre fantastic Corcovado National Park.

In 1975 The Nature Conservancy helped create Corcovado National Park, now the crown jewel in Costa Rica's park system. It is home to almost 400 species of birds, 140 species of mammals, 116 species of amphibians and reptiles, over 500 species of trees and more than 6,000 species of insects. The park protects endangered species such as the jaguar, puma, crocodile, tapir, poison dart and golden frogs, and the harpy eagle.

The beaches of the Osa are also major nesting sites for several varieties of sea turtles. If you want to really experience a lowland tropical rainforest in its most pristine and natural state, yet also enjoy the tropical beach environment, the Osa Peninsula awaits you.

The Osa Peninsula juts into the Pacific Ocean from the southwestern Costa Rican coast. This remote paradise harbors a diversity of habitats and biological richness rarely found in such a small geographic area. Here the jungle meets the sea: lowland tropical rain forest lines pristine white-sand beaches, and mangroves front freshwater lagoons. Known as the last wild frontier in Costa Rica, the peninsula's inaccessibility spared it for many years from development.

The Osa Peninsula was once an island that later connected to the mainland of the Central American Isthmus. As a result, it has an extraordinary rate of endemism -- of species found nowhere else on Earth. The canopy of the rain forest - with the greatest tree species diversity in all of Central America -- harbors not only the country's largest population of scarlet macaws but also 52 species of nocturnal bats feeding on some 6,000 types of insects. Large cats such as jaguar and puma share the forest floor with tapir and anteaters while howler monkeys chatter overhead. Offshore, the deep blue waters of the Pacific and Golfo Dulce host migrating humpback whales and sea turtles that nest on Osa's shores.

Nestled between the Osa Peninsula and Costa Rica?s south Pacific Coast is Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf), a large bay ringed by secluded beaches and the wonderful biodiversity of the region. Of the many tourist attractions Costa Rica has to offer, Golfo Dulce is the perfect destination for nature lovers, both those seeking adventure and those who want only to relax under a palm tree on the beach.

Circling the warm blue waters of Golfo Dulce is a tropical rain forest where one may encounter four species of monkey (spider, white-faced, squirrel and howler), Poison Dart frogs, Morpho butterflies, anteaters, agoutis, coati mundis, jaguars, ocelots and margays.

Beautiful birds abound, such as scarlet macaws, toucans, hummingbirds, great curassows, crested guans, trogons, aracaris, honey creepers, herons, tinamous, woodpeckers, wood creepers, ant birds and manikins.