Wildlife holidays in Costa Rica
Tell me about Costa Rica …
Costa Rica is a Central American country bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the east and south. Its name means, literally, ‘rich coast’ and its government intends to make it the first carbon neutral country by 2021. It is also officially the ‘greenest’ country in the world!
Costa Rica has coastlines on both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and, for a small country, has a very varied range of habitats. It lies just north of the equator and boasts the fifth highest peak in Central America.
It has lush evergreen cloudforests in the highlands and dry deciduous forests in the lowlands. It also has marshes, swamps, rivers and subalpine paramo habitats.
Our Costa Rica specialist recommends...
Our ‘Costa Rica’ tour is a 15-day birdwatching holiday where we hope to see the best of the 800+ species such as the Resplendent Quetzal in the cloudforest. Other specialities include the Peg-billed, Large-footed & Yellow-thighed Finches.
Paul Stanbury
Operations Manager
What’s special about its wildlife?
Costa Rica has the greatest density of species in the world.
Its bird life is particularly splendid – Costa Rica has one of the richest avifaunas of any country, with over 850 species recorded! Indeed, more species have been recorded here than in the whole of North America, yet the country is about the size of Wales. From a dazzling array of hummingbirds to orioles, antbirds, nightjars and wildfowl, Costa Rica is a superb birding destination.
It also has an extraordinary diversity of plants, butterflies and amphibians, while its mammals include sloths, tapirs, big cats and a rich variety of monkey species among many others species. Costa Rica is also home to the world’s fastest running lizard, and four species of turtle nest along its coasts.
Naturetrek tour to Costa Rica
Naturetrek offers a 15-day bird watching tour to Costa Rica. We visit as wide a range of habitats in the time as possible focusing primarily on birds but also taking time to enjoy some of the country’s other special wildlife.
What wildlife might I see?
- It’s possible to see over 30 species of hummingbirds
- We look for trogons, manakins & tanagers on the Pacific coast
- Scarlet Macaws flying to their night-time roosts
- A chance to see arguably the world’s most beautiful bird – the Resplendent Quetzal
- Spectacular wetland bird life including up to five species of kingfisher
- Many species of monkeys, sloths & other Neotropical mammals on our bargain tour
WHAT YOU'VE BEEN SAYING ABOUT OUR Costa Rica HOLIDAYS
This was a most enjoyable holiday and Costa Rica, as a country and for it’s wildlife, exceeded all my expectations. It was well organised and superbly led by Chris Kehoe. The accommodation throughout was excellent and the ‘Hacienda’ was a bit special!
Colin is an excellent leader with a very impressive knowledge of the local birds.
Chris Kehoe was an exceptional leader. Exceptional at bird identification and tireless in his efforts to make the trip go well. (I am not sure he ever slept). We will definitely use Naturetrek again.