Begin your adventure at the edge of the Pacific. Depart from Uvita, home of the famous Whale's Tail beach, and cross the waters of Marino Ballena National Marine Park, one of Costa Rica's most active marine corridors.
During the 90-minute crossing, keep your eyes on the water: spinner and bottlenose dolphins are frequent companions on this route, along with sea turtles, seabirds, and the occasional humpback whale during the season. This ocean crossing is not just a transfer — it is the first chapter of your journey.
Upon arrival at San Pedrillo Ranger Station, follow your certified bilingual naturalist guide into one of the most biologically rich places on the planet. Corcovado National Park holds an extraordinary 3% of the world's biodiversity on this side of the planet — more than the UK, Canada, and the United States combined. National Geographic has called it "the most biologically intense place on Earth," and one walk through its primary rainforest will show you exactly why.
Over approximately 3 hours of guided hiking along flat, well-maintained jungle trails, your naturalist guide will help you spot and identify the park's remarkable wildlife. Look up for scarlet macaws — Corcovado holds the largest population in Central America — and watch for howler and red-backed squirrel monkeys moving through the canopy.
Along the trails and rivers, you may encounter the prehistoric-looking Baird's tapir, white-nosed coatis, giant anteaters, caimans, and a spectacular variety of reptiles including 28 species of lizards and 40 species of frogs. Corcovado is also home to jaguar, puma, and the rare harpy eagle, making every step through the forest a genuine wildlife expedition.
The park shelters 2,800 species of plants, 400 species of birds including 16 species of hummingbirds, and at least 10,000 species of insects — numbers that transform a walk in the jungle into an immersive lesson in the complexity of life on Earth.
After the hike, enjoy a well-earned lunch at the ranger station, which has clean restroom and shower facilities. At 2:30 PM, your boat heads back north along the Pacific coast toward Uvita, arriving between 3:30 and 4:00 PM — another opportunity to spot marine life on the return crossing.