A great place to experience this is Marenco Biological Reserve, a remote private nature preserve located on the wild and remote Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast, just outside of Corcovado National Park.
The journey to Marenco begins in San José, Costa Rica’s capital. Guests are picked up and flown to the little town of Palmar Sur, where they continue their trip by boat down the Sierpe River, traveling through the largest stand of mangroves in Costa Rica. At the mouth of the river the boat enters the Pacific Ocean and follows the coastline south to Marenco. The lodge, which is reminiscent of a jungle outpost in a Tarzan movie, is located on the top of a hill, and guests stay in platform-mounted thatch-roofed cabins, each having a balcony with a panoramic view of the rainforest and coastline. In the trees surrounding the cabins are monkeys, sloths, and colorful birds.
Marenco has jungle trails where you can wander through the rainforest, and miles of solitary beaches, where you can swim, snorkel, stroll and relax.
A boat ride from Marenco takes you to Corcovado National Park, which covers more than 108,000 acres and is one of the richest, most diverse tropical areas on earth. Corcovado is home to at least 285 species of birds, 139 of mammals and 116 of amphibians and reptiles. Its forests contain more than 500 species of trees, and their canopy height is almost 200 feet—the tallest in Costa Rica.
Eleven miles across the water from Marenco is Caño Island. Stone spheres and Indian graves found all over the island suggest that in ancient times this was an Indian cemetery. Surrounding Caño Island is Costa Rica’s largest Pacific coast coral reef, where snorkelers can see large varieties of fish, sea urchins, and crustaceans. On the boat ride over from Marenco you can usually spot dolphins and sea turtles.
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