Tortuguero National Park - Costa Rica

From December 24-28 Isabel and I visited the small community of Tortuguero and Tortuguero National Park (Parque Nacional Tortuguero). The park is located in the far north of the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica just below the border with Nicaragua (see map at the end of the post).

Although there is a range of accommodations in Tortuguero, the area is relatively difficult to reach and access and activities in the park are very restricted. The main way to reach the park now is by boat from la Pavona which takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. The park can also be reached by boat from Moín which is just north of the city of Limón. There are no roads in the area and thankfully no cars or motorcycles. The only noise in the area is music from the bars and restaurants (occasionally too loud) and the noise from the boat motors, the level of which is also restricted.

We enjoyed our visit to the area. We took a morning birding tour into the park as well as a morning canoe tour on a different day. The "canoe" is actually operated by a very small and quiet trolling motor. We also had the chance to experience some food and drinks from the Caribbean side of the country which are very different from the rest of Costa Rica.

Some photos and a video below:

Caiman

A pair of Bare-throated Tiger Herons

Spider Monkey - one of Costa Rica's four monkey species

Howler Monkey

Two-toed Sloth

Iguana

Northern Jacana

Green Heron

Little Blue Heron

Anhinga (iPhone pic)

Slaty-tailed Trogon

Birding in the national park

Canoe trip in the park

Having a Coco Loco

Map showing Tortuguero

Red mark is the park location. The black line running more or less west to east and north of the park is the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The blue dot is where we live near Grecia.

Happy New Year! Expect new posts when we travel to Colombia in February 2023.