We went to the most scarce biodiversity park in Costa Rica, it's not a place ... it's unique that absolutely everyone should experience at least once.

How to get there? To start the adventure you have to get to Puerto Jiménez ... and it can be done in 2 ways.

1 Flying to Puerto Jiménez in Sansa, leaves Juan Santamaría and arrives in 45 min.

2 By car, from San José it can be about 7 hours to Puerto Jiménez

Waze:

3 By bus there is a company that travels there and lasts approximately 8 hours. (tel.2257-4121)

Distance:Between 40 and 45 km in 3 days

Difficulty:Difficult

Accessibility:Not accessible

What to bring? Fresh clothing with UV protection, quick-drying long pants, trail or hiking shoes, hat, sunglasses, at least 2 litres of water, many snacks for walks (it's a lot of walking), all-powerful repellent, clothes to sleep at night, personal hygiene items, and an excellent attitude.

For more detail to bring HERE

Vehicle:Automobile

Parking:Yes

Pets:No

Camping:No

Contact: SINAC:[email protected] ADI Corcovado: [email protected] Tel: 2735-5525 Lodging (40km from Jiménez): Hacienda Río Oro Tel: 8382 5423

*Cost: Nationals ¢ 1600 per day in the national park Lodging: ¢ 16500 Lunch and Dinner: ¢ 5150 Breakfast: ¢ 3200 colones Guides: $ 120 to $ 180 per day. To get a guide, ask for a recommendation in ADI Corcovado.

*Reservation

1. Entrance to Corcovado National Park MINAE-SINAC-ACOSA entrance

2. Send a request to the e-mail:[email protected] or go to the MINAE offices in Puerto Jiménez.

3. They will indicate the steps to follow: Amount to pay, depending on the number of people. Account number to deposit (only by bank deposit, or card, or cash accepted in that office)

4. Send your payment confirmation. You should print this out to show once you get there. With the entrance to the park confirmed, you must reserve your accommodation and meals.

5. Lodging and Meals ADI Corcovado Carate

Write to the reservation inbox of the ADI CorcovadoCarate [email protected] or go physically to the ADI Corcovado Carate Office in Puerto Jiménez. You can call 27355525.

An invoice is sent depending on the number of beds and days required.

It can be cancelled by means of a Visa or MasterCard credit card at the ADI office in Puerto Jiménez or by bank deposit.

Once your proof of payment is presented. You will receive your completed reservation, which you must show on arrival at Sirena.

DAY 1

We left at 6 am from the Juan Santamaría Airport and arrived before 7 in the morning to Puerto Jimenez, here the 4 × 4 taxis picked us up to go to the entrance of the Corcovado National Park "Los Patos" ... on the side of the mountain.

** The park has 3 ways to get to the heart, one of the "Sirena Station": 1- Los Patos, 2- La Leona 3- By boat (this is from Drake).

To get to Los Patos lasts just over 1 hour in 4x4 crossing several times a river (this part is difficult to access in winter) while you enter the mountain where the ranger house is located. We reported our name here and wrote them in the form and then start walking.

The first 2 hours of the route are those that have some hill, but you can make it fine, then it is flat for another 6 hours. The jungle is super dense, this helps you not get burned since It blocks the sun but on the other hand the relative humidity is a serious pain.

On the way from Los Patos, we saw all kinds of animals, including monkeys, limpets, guans and even a herd of sainos. So the quieter you go, the better you’ll notice the animals ...

We made 2 stops on the way: 1 for breakfast and another for lunch. At the stops put a thousand times more repellent than you already had since ticks and mosquitos are present.

The kms are said to be 20, but it is easier and more accurate to measure the route by time ... so said and done, after 8 hours we arrived at Sirena Station! The arrival felt very good since we finally had a chance to get rid of the backpack and the shoes ... so we take out the flip-flops to walk to the cabins and have a well deserved (necessary) bath.

The facilities are the coolest we have seen in a National Park, this is because the administration, cleaning and meals are in the hands of the Corcovado Integral Development Association.

After changing to clean clothes we went to the dining room to have a delicious dinner. It’s buffet style, and absolutely everything comes from producers from the area of ​​the Península de Osa ... the food is glorious.

After lunch we went to rest, (also because at 8 pm the lights are turned off).

DAY 2

Half of the team got up early for a short walk to the Sirena River, the idea was to run into a tapir ... but instead, they came across an endless number of species of birds waking up. After the first walk, we had a nice pinto for breakfast at 7 am in the refuge's dining room.

After eating we prepared our stuff to start to walk along the path that leads to the Claro River. It's not that long, we lasted an hour at a time, turtle watching a seeing an absurd amount of animals ... including the 4 types of monkey (Spider, White, Titi and Congo) and the Tapir!

We arrived at the clear river and looked for the best pool to swim at... In this river (unlike the Sirena River) there is no danger of encountering alligators, so you can bathe in complete safety.

After the river, we went walking along another path that reaches back to the Sirena station for some lunch.

After lunch, we did another epic trail called Espavel with giant trees that reaches the Sirena River that is on the other side of the Claro River. On the way, we saw all kinds of birds and an anteater until we reached the Sirena River, where we rested and then went to see the sunset at the beach.

When we returned to the shelter we bathed so we could dine like champs and get things ready for our return day.

DAY 3

We got up at 5 a.m., we asked for breakfast-to-go to not delay our walk since we had 7 hours more to walk to leave the park by the beach. The road is a partial mountain and part forest, there are few hills and it is necessary to protect yourself from the sun and take a lot of water with you.

This walk is very cool because of the views offered by the route, it is also awesome because unlike the entrance of Los Patos, you can have visual references such as stones, machines and beaches that make you feel like you are going mile by mile.

On the way back almost reaching the position of the Leona we spent refreshing our little bodies in the pools of the creek called Hedionda, this gave us enough strength to finish our walk to Playa Carate where we got a taxi to take us to Hacienda Río Oro.

At Hacienda Río Oro we rested and spent the night so the next day we could take the first flight from Sansa to San José.

Date of the trip: April 2019