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Guided Tours Tortuguero National Park

If you want to see wildlife in Tortuguero National Park you absolutely need a guide, as otherwise you'll not see 10 percent of the wildlife you'll see in their company. The local guides--there are about 40 guides trained by the Costa Rica's National Parks Service and organized into a local cooperative--have binocular eyes: in even the darkest shadows, they can spot caimans, birds, crocodiles, and other animals you will most likely miss. You can hire local guides in the village for about $5 pp, per hour (tours usually last two or three hours). The best guides are employed by the local lodges and are well versed in wildlife lore (one recommended guide is Anselmo Najarro Flores, beeper tel. 224-2400, code 0211; also try Castor Hunter, beeper tel. 296-2626).

The guide will lead you deep into the narrow caños and chug up the side streams where the vegetation narrows down to a murky closeness and he is forced to cut the motor and pole to make headway. On a guided three-hour tour from Tortuga Lodge, I saw crocodiles, caimans, howler monkeys, sloths, green macaws, turtles, toucans, herons, a diminutive pygmy kingfisher, river otters playing tag alongside the boat, and dozens of other species. The succession of creatures--some virtually at arm's reach--seemed almost to have been installed for my benefit. I felt as if we were in a museum instead of a wilderness. Exploring at night is no longer permitted.

Mary Beth Balliett, a Spanish Teacher by profession and a nature lover by heart. She has spent the last year working with native Costa Ricans (Ticos) and helping them in their efforts to make a living offering tours to foreigners. If you are interested in visiting this beautiful country, seeing nesting sea turtles, and experiencing the hospitality of the Costa Rican people, please feel free to contact her at: marybeth@telenet.net or 518-295-8218.

You can also book guided trips at any of the lodges or through tour companies in San José. The following companies offer guided tours:

Agencia Mitur, Apdo. 91, San José 1150, tel. 255-2031, fax 255-1946, operates a daily "Tortuguero Jungle Adventures" aboard the Colorado Princess, with accommodations at the Hotel Ilan Ilan ($160 two days/one night; $215 three days/two nights).

Costa Rica Expeditions provides the best operation and offers a variety of quality tours with overnights at its Tortuga Lodge. It provides rain ponchos, plus lunches for day trips to Barra del Colorado. Three-day/two-night packages with private flight from San José to Tortuguero cost $299 pp (based on a four-person minimum); boat tours into the park are extra. It has the best guides in the area. Recommended!

Cotur, Apdo. 26-1017, San José 2000, tel. 233-6579, has a three-day/two-night package from San José, including a bus ride to Moín, then a journey to Tortuguero aboard either the Miss Caribe or the Miss América. A half-day tour of the park is included. Accommodations are at the Jungle Lodge. Departure on Friday, return Sunday. Ecole Travel (see appendix) has special trips during turtle-nesting season ($85, including one night lodging and the canal trip). The Mawamba Lodge, in San José, tel. 233-9964, or in Puerto Limón, tel. 758-1564, operates a launch--the Mawamba--twice weekly from Puerto Limón to Tortuguero.

Tortuguero Safaris, in Tortuguero village, also has trips (see the Tours and Activities section, in the Tortuguero section, below).

Willie Rankin of All Rankin' Tours, tel. 798-1556, has trips from Moín for $50, as does Caribbean Comfort, tel. 758-1210. Most other hotels in Puerto Limón can arrange tours.