Day 1: Arrival
After claiming your bags and making your way through customs, you
will be met at the San Jose International Airport by a friendly
member of our Wild Studies staff holding a sign with your group’s
name. You will then be driven to your first home away from home,
The Inca Real Hotel. You will spend the first 2 nights of your journey
in this fine establishment, rich with Costa Rican flair. Depending
on your arrival time, you will be given a short walking tour of
the immediate San Jose area, an opportunity to shop at an artisan
market, and enjoy a traditional Costa Rican dinner, served in style
on a banana leaf, along with your choice of fresh tropical fruit
juice.
Day 2: San Jose Area Tour
This day is full of immersion in the Costa Rican culture. The first
stop of our comfortable tour bus is a coffee plantation where you
will dine in luxury on a traditional Costa Rican breakfast complete
with samples of coffee produced at the plantation. This is followed
by a complete tour about the production of one of the most economically
beneficial products of the country – coffee. From the bean
fields to the roaster, you will be shown step-by-step all that is
involved with this process. Your next stop will be to Volcan Poas.
This active volcano is a site to see! As we climb higher, you will
see the city of San Jose nestled in the valley while experiencing
first-hand the change of climate and corresponding vegetation in
these higher elevations. We will visit the active crater and take
a hike to a lagoon. On the drive back down, we will stop at a farm
and sample fresh strawberries and beverages. The third main stop
will be at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. This will be your first
of many opportunities to see a wide variety of rainforest creatures
up close and personal – from snakes to hummingbirds. Make
sure you aren’t carrying any hitchhikers upon your exit from
the butterfly house! In addition, you will take winding staircases
next to natural waterfalls, one of the most captivating features
of this country’s landscape. Finally, your day will end with
a river boat trip. On this part of your journey, keep your eyes
peeled for caiman, crocodiles, lizards, monkeys, and a variety of
birds!
Day 3: Journey to the Osa
The morning starts off with a hearty breakfast at a local restaurant.
After filling up for a long day of traveling, you will pack up and
leave the Inca Real for your new destination: Carate. You will be
traveling by air in a comfortable turbo prop plane while taking
in the breathtaking views of the mountains, rivers, and sea on your
way to the Osa Peninsula where you will be greeted by a lush paradise
of palm trees and tropical plants as the plane touches down on the
gravel runway. There, more staff will meet you to complete the rest
of the trip by specially designed taxis for rough terrain. On our
way, we will stop and enjoy a packed lunch on the beach of Matapalo,
where you will watch the continuum of waves crash at your feet at
this most desirable surfing destination. One of the most unforgettable
parts of this trip is the first time entering primary rainforest.
As the landscape changes and you become surrounded by the shadow
of the towering trees, you realize that you are truly in a special
place. Upon arrival in Carate, our bags will be loaded onto a horse
cart and we will enjoy a walk down the black volcanic sand beach
along the Pacific Ocean to our final destination: the eco-lodge.
Here we will have some time to relax on the beach after a day of
traveling. Tonight, a new atmosphere will surround you as you fall
asleep to the hypnotic sound of crashing waves and slumber with
the rainforest in this luxury tent camp.
Day 4: Canopy Traverse & Rainforest Introduction Hike
You awake to the sounds of scarlet macaws and the stirring of animals
of the forest floor. Breakfast is served in the open air dining
area overlooking the ocean. Your first day in the rainforest begins
with visiting the place where most of rainforest life reigns –
the treetop canopy. If you want a monkey’s-eye view of the
forest, you will use our zip lines to traverse the canopy and take
in awesome views of land and sea. It is here that you may have a
close-up encounter with wildlife that you don’t get on the
forest floor and will see exotic plant life, such as orchids, in
their natural environment. After another fine meal, you will take
your first hike through the rainforest. On our journey, you will
be educated on the different life of the forest and learn the best
hiking techniques for seeing wildlife. Our guides will take you
through the trails and seek out creatures along the way –
be sure to look at the base of trees for the strikingly-colored
poison dart frogs! Dinner is served, followed by a lesson on rainforest
ecology. You will also be taught how to use the rappelling equipment
for tomorrow’s adventure. Weather and time-permitting, you
will take a hike down the beach searching for sea turtles that use
this beach as a nesting site.
Day 5: Waterfall Rappelling & Rock Climbing
On this second day, you will eat a hearty breakfast in preparation
for a hike upriver to a waterfall. This hike offers a different
view of the varied-topography of Costa Rica. Once we reach our destination
at the top of the waterfall, if you so choose, our guide will assist
you in donning our harness, ropes, and helmet. After reviewing the
instructions you were given last night, you will have the opportunity
to rappel down this waterfall and then test your rock climbing skills
climbing back up alongside it. You will also be given a short geology
lesson to learn about what makes this area such a marvel of Nature’s
beauty. We will eat a packed lunch and watch for wildlife on our
hike back down. Look out for gold that lies waiting to be discovered
in this riverbed! How about another night hike and star-gazing after
dinner?
Day 6: Corcovado National Park
In the morning, we will prepare for departure from the eco-lodge,
but not before hiking through arguably one of the most biologically
diverse places on Earth – Corcovado National Park. Here you
will hike in the forest along the Pacific, listening carefully for
the sounds of creatures rousing as a result of our arrival. Shhh!
What was that?? As you look above toward the sounds, you see branches
moving wildly. It’s a troop of spider monkeys overhead! Are
we the observers or the observed? You will truly feel at one with
Nature in this extraordinary place. Have your cameras ready! We
leave the rainforest today and travel to Puerto Jimenez with anticipation
of tomorrow’s adventure…
Day 7: Wildlife Up-close
You are in for a special treat on your final full day in Costa Rica.
After a restful night’s sleep in your cabina, you awake to
a different sound – roosters! In the delightful town of Puerto
Jimenez, you are greeted by friendly neighbors as we take a short
walk to a restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast, you are taken
on a boat tour across the Golfo Dulce. Along the way, you will likely
encounter one of the resident pods of Spotted Dolphin. Then a change
of scene – instead of watching the wildlife from above, you
will get into the water and snorkel around the reefs and walk along
secluded beaches in search of marine life you will likely have never
seen before. After that, we will visit a wildlife sanctuary and
learn about the hard work that goes into providing injured and mistreated
wildlife a second chance by the dedicated and compassionate staff.
Watch out – you may become a “jungle” gym for
one of the free-roaming resident monkeys! Many great photo opportunities
here. You enjoy a peaceful ride back across the Gulf while looking
out for elusive sea turtles. For your last evening in Costa Rica,
you will enjoy dinner in an open-air, candlelit restaurant and wrap-up
presentation by the staff.
Day 8: Homeward Bound
This morning, you will have breakfast in town and then it is off
to the airport for another scenic trip back to San Jose. On our
short walk to the airport, perhaps we will see white-faced capuchins
in the mangroves. Upon arrival in San Jose, you will be escorted
to your airline for your international flight back to the United
States. Along the way, you will most certainly be reflecting on
the new memories you have created during your stay on the Osa and
be excited to share them with others when you arrive back home;
you will certainly leave with a new appreciation for one of the
most endangered environments on the globe. We hope you will make
this a truly life-changing experience by making environmentally-favorable
changes in your day-to-day life and encouraging others to do the
same to help preserve this natural treasure.
Now it is time to start planning your next Wild Studies adventure!
See you next summer!
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