by Bert Woodson
As a recent transplant to the Osa Peninsula (six weeks) I am amazed every day by the unspoiled, pristine, and remote beauty I am surrounded with. Every day is an adventure. I moved here after 2½ years as the proprietor of the Bella Vista Lodge just outside of Dominical. I had heard from my guests about the Osa. Without fail, they loved it. I never had the time to get away and experience it for myself. Running a small resort is all-consuming and leaves little time to get away.
Brazil is one of today’s most fashionable holiday choices and Praia do Forte one of the country’s most attractive destinations. White sandy beaches bathed by crystalline waters and lined by coconut trees, a whole host of water sports, luxury hotels, its exotic culture, the history of Portugal’s colonisation of America…Praia do Forte is all this and much, much more.
But if there’s one particular thing that Praia do Forte is famous for, then it has to be its nature reserves that overflow
Normally, you don’t see tough, radical conservationists attending lectures by land developers. But there they were, 100 strong, from the Nature Conservancy, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and from all over Latin America – all raptly listening to how land development can actually preserve forests.
Nervous before his formidable audience, Guillermo Piedra Gonzalez explained how his small residential development in the tiny country of Costa Rica is carving out a niche
Re-use your towels at your hotel, ask that your bed linens not be changed daily, take a shower instead of a bath, wear water-resistant sunblock – these are all ways travelers can be responsible water consumers and participate in this year’s World Tourism Day that highlights water conservation.
In support of the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation for 2013, this year’s World Tourism Day (WTD) on September 27 is themed: Tourism and Water: Protecting our Common Future.
Travelers ar
In Costa Rica – a country renowned for its legendary sensational amount of plants and animals – it’s one thing to boast about having the greatest biodiversity. It’s quite another to have tons of scientific research to back up the claim.
Not only is the rainforest around Veragua Rainforest Eco-Adventure park in the Talamanca Mountains in Costa Rica spectacularly abundant with biodiversity, to date 11 new animal species have been discovered by the Veragua scientific research team and 15 endanger
Written by Ellie
Having spent some time travelling in Thailand, I’m eager to visit more of south-east Asia, and visiting Vietnam is next on my list!
After researching the country and jealously listening to recommendations given by other travellers, I’ve come up with a list of my top reasons why I want to travel to Vietnam.
1. Delicious Food
Despite the huge focus on other Asian cuisines such as Thai, Chinese and Indian food, I’ve heard great things about Vietnamese food and some of the dishes sound
If you visit Tram Chim National Park in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap during the time of day when the highest tides occur, normally from August to November, you can take a motorboat ride through forests rich with plants and flowers and green cajeput trees.
Tram Chim National Park is an eco-tourist area known as a “green island” with a typical natural landscape of the submerged region of Dong Thap Muoi. The park is home to many botanical species and nearly 200 species of water birds which
The “Sweet Gulf” of Golfo Dulce in southern Costa Rica gets a lot of attention for being a refuge for migrating endangered Pacific humpback whales. The 31-mile (50-km) Pacific gulf is essentially a big watery “cradle,” - not only the birthplace for whales but also for dolphins and endangered hammerhead sharks.
The Costa Rican environmental organization Misión Tiburón (Shark Mission) is lobbying the Costa Rican government to protect Golfo Dulce as the first sanctuary for hammerhead sharks in the
One of the top day tours on Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast, Veragua Rainforest Research & Adventure, is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month.
The highly popular nature and adventure attraction, and important scientific research center, was four years in the making and now five years open. In that time, the tour destination has achieved a long list of successes.
“Everyone is very proud of the work and effort we have given during these years,” said Federico Quirós, Administrative Financial Man
Described as being like “Jurassic Park” or a fairytale land of elves, the cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica is a special place on the planet.
The rare ecosystem of Monteverde in Costa Rica is part of only one percent of the global woodlands known as cloud forests, rainforest at such high elevations they are essentially in the clouds. In Costa Rica, tropical warm air condenses at high altitude (above 5,000 feet) into persistent fog and mist, and moisture is more consistent drizzle than rai
If it were 25 years ago, you wouldn’t want to go to San Lucas Island. The small, forested island in the middle of Costa Rica’s Nicoya Gulf was the roughest jail in the country. Being sent to San Lucas Island was a terrible prospect; prisoners’ lives were short and often spent in torture.
Thankfully, today, the prisoners are gone and San Lucas Island has been transformed into a national wildlife refuge to protect the island’s ecosystem, its wildlife, the historic buildings of the penal colony, and
The natural and pristine beauty of Nam Dong attracts a lot of tourists who love discovery.
Coming to Nam Dong, tourists can visit Mo waterfall (located in the foot of La Hy moutain pass in Huong Phu commune). Mo waterfall is so beautiful and tranquil. Everything here is primitive.
After being tired, tourists can stop and enjoy specialities here. especially grilled dishes are very delicious and the price is quite reasonable.
Leaving Mo waterfall, tourists keep going to Kazan waterfall (in Thuong Lo
With Costa Rica’s most famous active volcano – Arenal – behaving quietly for the past three years, tourists to this Central American hotspot are looking elsewhere for exciting fireworks.
There are actually six active volcanoes in Costa Rica, and another 61 that are dormant or extinct. For the past 50 years, Arenal was the country’s most active volcano; however, in 2010, the celebrated cone-shaped peak entered a “resting phase” – meaning that its daily and nightly fantastic eruptions have ceased f
Little was known about life up in the canopy of tropical forests until biologists started using ropes and pulleys to climb their way up. Treetops in the tropics reach so high that it was nearly impossible to explore.
Scientists now know that about 90% of all of the organisms in a rainforest are found in the tree canopy. In the tropics, trees and plants stretch upwards as high as they can to get some sun, which barely reaches the forest floor. At the top, the brilliant sunlight hits everything, re
When I used to guide nature tours in Costa Rica, people would always ask me, “Are we going to see monkeys (or a sloth, toucan, etc.)?” I would always respond, “Well, it’s possible, but not guaranteed; it’s not like we put the animals out in their positions in the morning!”
When we talk about the Curú Wildlife Refuge, however, it actually almost is guaranteed to see a wide variety of wildlife. The Curú Wildlife Refuge protects tropical dry forests, beach, and mangrove estuaries and rivers on Costa
It is quite difficult to find a fresh, clean and airy palce escape from the smoky, dusty and stuffy atmosphere during the weekend when living in a crowded urban area. On a day I bumped into a classmate from university, after endless gossips of friends who met after a long time, I was recommended Thang Thien Waterfall Ecotourism Resort as a place to relax and enjoy the beauty of Mother Earth.
A self-organised couchsurfing tour was then arranged among a group of closefriends. We made thorough inves
Sharing a birthday, July 11, with the national day of this landlocked, mostly Buddhist country wedged between China and Siberia (a bit smaller than Alaska and with a population around 3 million) has helped drive a longtime fascination. In the early Middle Ages essentially a world power thanks to the westward conquests of Genghis Khan, in the 1990s Mongolia made a transition to multi-party democracy after 70 years of Communist and Soviet domination (one of the remnants of which is that its lan
photo | Julian Rotela Rosow
by Laura Tirado
Perhaps one of the things that most surprised me about the Galapagos is the nonchalance with which the local species still receive human visitors. To this day, the great majority of these islands is unpopulated, and in this largely pristine territory it’s mostly iguanas and sea lions who are your hosts on these shore excursions in the footsteps of Charles Darwin.
In fact, a sea lion was precisely the first creature I encountered
What is your dream for the planet?
Live sustainably? No unusable trash? Less food waste? Clean oceans and water sources? Trees, mountains and forests protected? Well-being of people and animals? Communities living in harmony and respect?
Horizontes Nature Tours in Costa Rica has the same dreams. They care about how travel and tourism affects not only their home of Costa Rica, but the entire planet.
On June 5 people everywhere celebrate World Environment Day 2015 (WED) with the United Nations Env
The fun-loving beach town of Jacó lights up as “beach party central” on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast. Just an hour from the San Jose metropolitan area on the Route 27 and Costanera Sur highways, Jacó is one of the country’s most developed beach towns.
Jacó spreads out in front of a low green mountain range along an azure horseshoe bay and features hotels, funky restaurants, souvenir and surf shops, bars, discos, casinos, and a wide beach. Just before Jacó is Playa Herradura, home to the ren
