The Caribbean Coast runs for about 125 miles between the borders of Panamá and Nicaragua. This region in the country is the one that receives the highest amount of rainfall in the year, consequently the area is hot and humid. The rain is heavier between the months of May and August and then between December and January.

There are many activities to do in Limón such as amazing diving, surfing, sport fishing, and great opportunities to be in contact with nature.

From Limón visitors can go to Tortuguero National Park and Cahuita National Park. Tourists can also visit indigenous communities such as Bribri, Cocles, Talamanca and Cabecar. Costa Rica car rental.

Puerto Limón is Costa Rica’s most important port. From there bananas, grains and other important products are exported to several countries. It was founded in 1870.

To get Puerto Limón, which is the capital of the province of Limón, it is better to take from San José, highway 32. This highway is also known as the Guápiles Highway. Take the highway north out of the city and then turn east. Along the way you will pass the Barva Volcano and the Braulio Carrillo National Park. You can continue along this highway until you reach Puerto Limón. It takes about two and a half hours to get there from San José.

This is a good opportunity to visit the Braulio Carrillo National Park. This park was named after Costa Rica’s third president, Dr. Braulio Carrillo. The park is full of tropical rainforest and it is located northeast of the Central Valley. This is a protected zone that has about 44,000 hectares of hills full of dark green vegetation and wildlife.

The park was created in 1978 to preserve the flora and fauna of this area. The park is the home of 6,000 species of plants, and it has five different life zones. The park shelters about 500 bird species. Animals such as the white-faced monkey, jaguars, peccaries, coati, deer, tapir and raccoons inhabit the park. Car rental Costa Rica.

Once in Limón visitors can go to the beautiful Cahuita National Park. This is an amazing black sand beach town with calm waters. Cahuita is a paradise where you can relax, since it offers astonishing beaches, green coastal rainforest and stunning coral reefs.

Another common bat is the Jamaican Fruit Bat. This bat is native to Central and South America and it loves fruits such as guava, papaya, and banana. When they cannot find fruit, they usually feed on pollen, nectar and a few insects. This bat is found all over Costa Rica and it plays an important role in seed distribution.

Most species are brown or black, however the Honduran White Bat is as its name suggests, white. They are a tent-making bat and like to live in colonies of about twelve individuals. They can be seen in the Caribbean Coast in the Tortuguero National Park.

In Costa Rica the Vampire bat can also be found. This is the only bat species that feeds on the blood of livestock. Due to this, they can cause a lot of damage to farm animals all over Central and South America. These kinds of bats are commonly seen in Corcovado National Park, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, Monteverde, and Cerro de la Muerte. Costa Rica car rental 4×4.

Bats can be either solitary or social. The bats that are highly social usually have a social structure. Large groups break off into small subgroups to accomplish daily activities. The bats that are individual usually switch off between subgroups.

Bats have key role in nature since they disperse seeds and pollen. Several native plants in Costa Rica rely on bats their sole pollinators.

During the day, the bats sleep in places such as under palm leaves, wooden roofs and in hollow trees. Right after sunset the bats start going down on trees. They catch mosquitos and other insects and feed on fruits and nectar. Costa Rica car rental Company.

Bats use echolocation to navigate and search for food, often in total darkness. Their use of echolocation allows them to occupy a niche where there are often many insects, where there is less competition for food, and where there are fewer other species that may prey on the bats themselves. Microbats generate ultrasound via the larynx and emit the sound through the open mouth or, much more rarely, the nose. Humans can’t hear this sound.

They can be seen all over Costa Rica, since it is native to Central and South America. They are commonly seen in several of Costa Rica’s national parks.
They are known as “cara blanca” in Spanish, or in English white-faced monkeys, since their faces, necks and chests are white or cream color. The rest of their boy is covered in brown or black fur. Car rental Costa Rica San Jose.

They are very social animals, they usually live in a troop of 10 to 30 individuals, with a dominant male. They are arboreal creatures and they almost never come down to the forest floor. They communicate by using chatters and shrieks.

The white-faced monkey eats mangos, bananas, and palm date nuts. They have been seen eating bromeliads and drinking the water stored in them. They can also eat bird eggs, crabs and small lizards.

These monkeys play a key role in seed dispersal as they often discard fruit pits on the forest floor. They get moisture from fruit, however capuchins have been observed drinking water from tree holes and other sources. Car rental Costa Rica airport.

White-faced monkeys inhabit diverse areas and can thrive in high-altitude cloud forests as well as wet lowlands along the coast. They are also prevalent in both wet and tropical dry forests. Visitors can observe troops of capuchins in Santa Rosa National Park and the Cabo Blanco Reserve during the dry season. They are also regularly seen in Manuel Antonio National Park, the cloud forests of Monteverde and along the Osa Peninsula.

Females mate with several males in the troop and give birth to one offspring every two years. Baby capuchins cling to their mothers’ backs for the first three months while they are still nursing. Infants are weaned by one year of age and reach sexual maturity when they are five to seven years old.

They are not an endangered species. Their predators are boa constrictors, big raptors and jaguars. As with other species, their biggest threat is habitat destruction by humans, however several troops inhabit Costa Rica’s national parks.

They are known for being very intelligent. White-faced monkeys can use tools, can beat snakes with sticks, they can use hard surfaces to crack nuts. They have also been seen probing sticks into holes to investigate what is inside. Rent a car Costa Rica.

Los Quetzales National Park is easy to reach from Manuel Antonio, from Jacó it’s about a two-hour trip. The entrance to the park is on Cerro de la Muerte, just before the turnoff for San Gerardo de Dota. Costa Rica car rental.

The park does not have public facilities, but lodges and accommodations in San Gerardo de Dota can arrange birding and hiking tours through the park. There are many cabins and lodges along the Cerro de la Muerte, that offer inexpensive lodging, meals and guided birding tours.

The most important animal in the park is definitely the quetzal. This amazing bird is known for being evasive, however park authorities report that it is easier to see it here than in other parts of the country. Bird and wildlife watching are the park’s main attractions. The dry months of December through May are considered peak quetzal season, when they can be seen throughout the day.

As you can imagine, bird watching is a very popular activity here. It gives the visitors the opportunity to see quetzals as well as other bird species that are sheltered in the park. Here tourists can see birds such as hummingbirds, trogons, tanagers, among others. Car rental Costa Rica.

The park has a wide variety of terrains. The park has mountains, lakes, cloud forests, rainforests, rivers, streams. It has several “aguacatillo” trees, which is the quetzal’s favorite food. There are several exotic flowers as well, such as oak and cypress trees. The average rain fall varies from 79-188 inches.

From the park you can also visit San Gerardo de Dota, which shelters more than 200 bird species, some of which are endangered or uncommon throughout the rest of Costa Rica. Trogons, hummingbirds, warblers, woodpeckers, owls, thrushes and falcons are among those most often spotted. The quetzal is most often seen during its mating season between April and May, but it can be seen all year round in San Gerardo.

San Gerardo de Dota is a small agricultural settlement that was founded in 1952 as a small agricultural settlement. Visitors can enjoy many activities such as fishing, bird watching, exploring scenic trails and horseback riding. Rent a car in Costa Rica.

Bear in mind that San Gerardo has just a few facilities and only a handful of cabins and lodges. However, the neighboring town of San Marcos de Tarrazu has an ATM. Major amenities are found 40 miles south in San Isidro del General. Many area hotels will accept credit cards.

Hummingbirds inhabit a variety of temperate and tropical habitats in Costa Rica. In the lowland areas, they typically nest during the dry season months of December through April. Some of them are found in highlands such as Monteverde or San Gerardo de Dota. They usually nest towards the end of the year when temperatures are colder and epiphytic flowers are blooming. Costa Rica car rental 4×4.

According to scientists only ten species of hummingbirds are known to live in Costa Rica’s highlands. One of the more common is the fiery-throated hummingbird (Panterpe insignis), which breeds in the cool forests near Poás and Irazú volcanoes and the high-elevation cloud forests along the Talamanca Mountains.

Hummingbirds can be seen all over Costa Rica, but especially in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Santa Elena Reserve, Selvatura Park in Monteverde, San Gerardo de Dota, Los Quetzales National Park, La Selva Biological Station in Sarapiquí, Poás Volcano National Park, La Paz Waterfall Gardens.

Hummingbirds are able to beat their wings up to 80 times a second. For this reason they produce a typical hum for which they get their name. They can hover in place when feeding due to this exceptionally rapid beat and their ability to rotate the whole wing. They can even fly backwards, which is a unique characteristic in birds. In order to keep flying they need a lot of energy. Costa Rica car rental Company.

Hummingbirds feed on nectar but they also eat small insects for protein. Generally they are belligerent and they will defend the feeding territories. They simply drive off any other bird that tries to feed.

Hummingbirds only mingle with the opposite sex for a short period of time during mating. The males gather in a lek, a communal display area during the breeding season, and they attract the females. Nests are usually built with moss, twigs, plant fibers and fern leaves, sometimes bound together with cobwebs. A clutch typically consists of two small white eggs, which are incubated by the female for 14-19 days. Chicks are fed a mixture of nectar and regurgitated insects and remain in the nest for up to a month. The males don’t play a role in nesting or chick nurturing.

Most hummingbirds are in no danger of extinction. Populations in Costa Rica are not seriously threatened. The only exception to this is the mangrove hummingbird (Amazilia boucardi), whose habitat along the Pacific Coast is endangered due to local development and increased pollution. Car rental Costa Rica San Jose.

Research has found that the majority of macaw nests are in almendros, in the large cavities that are created when a branch breaks from the tree. These macaws also get water from the almendro tree, in smaller cavities or bromeliads where rainwater collects.

In essence, the almendro tree is the perfect home, providing food, water and shelter. They live solely in forests where the almendro tree (Dipteryx panamensis) exists, depending on it for both nesting and as a primary source of food. The green macaws are now extinct throughout most of their historic range due to their loss of habitat. The Great Green Macaw relies heavily on the fruit of the swamp almond tree. Their head, back and upper wing are a luminous, olive green and their lower wing and tail tip are blue. There is a scarlet red patch on the tail and forehead. Their faces are bare with distinctive lines of small black feathers. They nest from December through June, and they produce one or two offspring annually, but not every year. Rent a car Costa Rica.

They can live more than 60 years with sufficient foraging grounds. The endangered Great Green Macaw is closely related to the Scarlet Macaw, they both have beautiful plumages. They can be distinguished easily because the head, shoulders and back of each species are green.

The Great Green Macaw can be seen in Tortuguero National Park, La Selva, Earth University, Maguenque National Park. Maguenque is a newer reserve that has the objective of helping the Green Macaw.

Biologically, the Great Green Macaw is used as an indicator species of forest health. Where macaws remain the forest is relatively healthy. By protecting habitat for the Great Green Macaw, habitat will also be protected for thousands of other species of creatures that live in the same habitat.
Due to the Great Green Macaw’s heavy dependence on the almendro for its survival, the highest constitutional court in Costa Rica declared the tree species protected in 2008, consequently banning any further cutting. Costa Rica Car hire.

In Costa Rica there are more than 1,300 recognized species of orchids. Those 1,300 species make up 7% of the world’s orchid population. And just recently another 10 new undiscovered species have been found near the border of Costa Rica and Panama. The University of Costa Rica’s Lankester Botanical Garden in Cartago was the organization that discovered these 10 new species. They were found on a government protected area known as Las Tablas in San Vito de Coto Brus. Rent a car Costa Rica.

Some of the species found here in Costa Rica are small and other are quite large. Some of them have wonderful scents and a few of them have a smell that is truly displeasing. The variety of odors that these exotic flowers emit is fascinating.

It is possible to arrange a knowledgeable guide to take you to natural habitats and see native orchids. Take into consideration that Costa Rica has very strong conservation laws, therefore it is forbidden to take orchids from the wild. Bring your camera and make photo records of them. Costa Rica Car hire.

If you want a closer look to these stunning flowers it is a good idea to visit the botanical gardens that exhibit them. If you visit the Lankester Botanical Gardens, east of Cartago and Wilson Botanical Gardens in the south east part of Costa Rica, near San Vito de Java, you will be able to appreciate these flowers to their full extent.

There is another garden in Palmares called the Jardín de Guarias Cocaleca. This garden is worth a visit, since once you are there you will find yourself among several electric lavender-purple blooms.

A good occasion to admire the orchids is during the National Orchid Exposition. This exposition takes place every year in March, bringing together the best blooming orchids of the country. There you will see several varieties of orchids and the competition is centered on the best of each color and form in the show.

If you are not in Costa Rica in March for the National Orchid Exposition, don’t worry. There are always small regional shows all year round throughout the country. The local newspapers announce these exhibits, which are usually held in different parts of the country once a month. Be sure to bring your camera to take a lot of pictures. Renting a car in Costa Rica.

Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí is the capital of this county and it is becoming one of the country’s most important commercial and tourist areas. It is encompassed by plantations and rich forests. It is located just 30 km south of the Nicaraguan border.

The Sarapiquí River is considered a national monument because of the essential service it provided in transporting arms, goods and soldiers in the 1856 war against the filibusters.

The crystal water river travels along green pastures and farmland, lush vegetation of towering trees, vines and flowers, cascading mountains and the La Selva Biological Reserve. This environment is the habitat to several different species such as monkeys, sloths, crocodiles, river turtles, iguanas, toucans, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, among others. Car rental Costa Rica.

If you are an eager bird watcher, you can come here and see many bird species in their natural environment such as hummingbirds, quetzals, dippers, guans, agoutis and quatamundis

Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí has plenty of affordable and budget hotels, bars and restaurants as well as a number of luxury resorts, lodges and rafting companies in the area.

Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí is a great place for those visitors who like to spend their time outdoors hiking, horseback riding, bird watching, white water rafting or kayaking.
White water rafting is very popular in this area. Most of the rapids do not exceed Class III-IV rapids, nevertheless you’ll still be provided with lifejackets, paddles and sometimes dry suits. The moderate class III rapids are perfect for beginners and families. A rafting trip on this river is an ideal opportunity to balance enthusiasm and relaxation.

The upper half of the river is a little more challenging while the lower half past moves along the Selva Biological Reserve. The scenery is spectacular because there are mostly primary and secondary growth trees. Rent a car in Costa Rica.

To get to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí from San José, you can head north into Heredia province and go past the town of Santa Clara. From here, head northwest to Tigre. Another alternative picturesque route is to travel from Brava to San Miguel passing the Poás Volcano and then going straight to this city.

These beautiful frogs are iconic in Costa Rica. They are also known as the strawberry poison arrow frog. This species includes about 15 to 30 color morphs. The most common of these morphs is the one which is reddish-orange with black spots and bright red. It has distinctive blue marking on their toes and legs, and that is why they are named blue jeans poison dart frogs. There are about 170 different species of poison dart frogs. Their appearance varies greatly from one species to the next, but the colors are always very bright. Costa Rica car rental 4×4.

The blue jeans poison dart frogs are diurnal, therefore scientists have studied it and photographed it extensively. They are commonly seen on the forest floor, moving with jerky movements, small hops and intense walking motions. They do all this in order to be able to advance their prey.

The secretions from a poison dart frog’s back cannot penetrate unbroken human skin, so they can be handled safely as long as you don’t have any open cuts and are careful to wash your hands later. The poison causes problems only if it gets into your bloodstream, either directly or through ingestion. Even then, it probably won’t kill you, though some species are much more toxic than others. Poison dart frogs are called like that because ancient indigenous rubbed frog toxins on arrows and blow-darts in order to disable their prey. Car rental Costa Rica San Jose.

Blue jeans poison dart frogs are native to most of Central America. They can be spotted in the Central Valley and Caribbean slopes, especially in Puerto Viejo, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, or Tortuguero. The amphibian is usually seen while hunting for ants and mites which make up 90% of its diet. These ants and mites have amazing concentrations of alkaloids, which are essential factors of the skin toxin in poison dart frogs and an important contributor for its toxicity.

Poison dart frogs become less poisonous over time when in captivity, possibly due to a change in diet. The toxin is created from chemicals found in insects the frogs eat in the wild; without access to exactly the right kinds of food, the toxicity rapidly disappears. Poison dart frogs in captivity don’t have this need for a defense mechanism, which reduces their appeal to natural predators from spiders to birds.

It is interesting to know that males are very territorial, remaining in the same area for a few weeks. They will protect the territory from other males and if for some reason they are moved away, they can find their way back. Apparently they are able to remember and recognize their habitat. Car rental Costa Rica airport.

Playa Avellanas is a great place for experienced surfers. The best time to surf this two-kilometer long white sand beach is when the tide is high, and the waves form near perfect tubes. Playa Avellanas is located 10 kilometers south of Tamarindo near Playa Junquillal. Car rental Costa Rica airport.

In Tamarindo visitors will find great restaurants, bakeries, boutique shops, and spas, and several hotels for all budgets. There are also several activities such as water sports, horseback riding, golfing, scuba diving, snorkeling, among other activities in the surroundings. In the evenings, Tamarindo becomes alive with festivity, and the sound of Latin music streams from the corner bars.

Avellanas on the other hand has no village and there are no shops. In Avellanas you will find some small , laid-back hotels and cabins where surfers and tourists can hang out.

For most visitors the most important attraction of Playa Avellanas is off shore. Avellanas boasts some of Costa Rica’s best surf spots luring surfers from all over the world. Rent a car Costa Rica.

In high season, and especially on weekends, the surf breaks in Avellanas usually get very packed as local surfers from Tamarindo area also come here looking for high waves.

An important point in Avellanas is Lola’s bar, which is a beautiful beach lounge. It has fashionable and convenient furniture and front view of the beach. The bar got his name after the whimsical pig of Avellanas. This naughty big pig liked to bath in the breaking waves of Avellanas.
The swells in Avellanas come in from the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, therefore the surfing is great all year round. Take into consideration that most breaks are for experienced surfers.

Avellanas beach is a short distance north of Playa Negra. You can either access this beach from Villareal, which is next to Tamarindo or from Santa Cruz. It is important to know that the roads leading to the beach are dirt and are not paved.

Be aware that Avellanas is not the best place for swimming due to strong currents. If you are not a professional surfer then you can take a long horse back ride along the shore, or unwind at the bar on the beach. The accommodations at Playa Avellanas are also quite comfortable and cheap. Costa Rica Car hire.