Tortuguero National Park History
The low-lying areas are of relatively recent geological formation, being alluvial sediments washed down from the interior mountains. But the few hilly places in the region, including Tortuguero Hill near the mouth of the Tortuguero River, are remnant volcanic formations that date back to when this portion of Central America consisted of nothing more than an archipelago of volcanic islands.

Tortuguero National Park

At some time in the region's history, sea turtles discovered that the beach here made a suitable nesting site and have continued to return faithfully ever since. However, the Green Sea Turtle nearly declined to extinction due to excessive harvesting of its meat for turtle soup and of eggs poached from the nests for their supposed aphrodisiac properties.

Fortunately, the efforts of the late Dr. Archie Carr, a biologist from the University of Florida, in Gainesville, were in time to initiate the preservation of the species before it was too late. In 1959, he formed the Carribean Conservation Corporation for the purpose of studying and protecting sea turtles throughout the region. The turtle tagging program begun at Tortuguero in 1955 is still continuing today and has yielded much information about these enigmatic creatures.