Tortuguero National Park.

A park born from a turtle.

In 1959 the Caribbean Conservation Corporation — now the Sea Turtle Conservancy — was founded to study and protect the Caribbean green turtle. Its director, the biologist Archie Carr, would become the world's leading authority on sea turtles. Working with the Costa Rican government, the CCC helped establish what is today the Tortuguero National Park on October 28, 1975.

The park protects more than the turtles. It safeguards the evergreen rainforest, the freshwater canals and lagoons, and one of the country's most biologically diverse landscapes.

Where it sits.

Location

North Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, ~80 km north of Limón.

Inland extension

26,156 hectares

Marine extension

~50,160 hectares

Average rainfall

4,500 – 6,000 mm per year

Average temperature

26 °C / 78.8 °F

Access

By boat or small aircraft only — no roads.

What lives here.

Tortuguero is a network of navigable lakes, rivers, and canals — both natural and man-made — that link the inland to the sea. Within them and along their banks live more than 350 identified bird species, an estimated 400 tree species and 2,200 plants, plus three monkey species (Howler, White-faced Capuchin, Spider), two and three-toed sloths, American crocodiles and caimans.

The park also shelters endangered species like manatees, tapirs, and jaguars — rarely seen, but they are here.

Among the trees: the Pachira, the Ilan-Ilan whose flower is an ingredient in famous perfumes (Anaïs-Anaïs by Cacharel), Sota Caballo, oil tree, and many species with massive buttressed root systems that flood-tolerant lowland forests are known for.

More on the wildlife → Fauna · Flora · Green Turtles.