The Palms Hotel - Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica - Osa Peninsula

The Osa Peninsula is one of Costa Rica’s last frontiers and ideal for the traveler looking for a unique and authentic nature and wildlife experience. It is located in the south west of Costa Rica close to the border of Panama; it is only within the last 10 years that road access was possible - and consequently much of the Peninsula is still covered in majestic, pristine rainforest. The Corcovado National Park, and Private Reserves protect over half of the Osa’s extensive tracts of rainforest and swamps. Its forests are home to endangered species such as Baird's tapir, the white-lipped peccary, the jaguars the America crocodiles, and the harpy eagle (only recently been re-sighted). Osa also boasts the largest population of the endangered scarlet macaws in the country, and is the center of the very restricted distribution of the endangered Central American squirrel monkey. Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula is host to almost half of Costa Rica's 860 species of birds (that is almost 5% of the world’s species!), 140 species of mammals, and 117 species of reptiles and amphibians. Almost 750 species of trees have been catalogued in the area, more trees than in all of the North temperate regions of the world combined. Impressive credentials indeed!

Per unit area, Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula holds possibly the highest natural diversity on earth. The National Geographic magazine described the Osa Peninsula as “the most biologically intense place on earth”. This description is a reference to the incredible abundance of wildlife on the Osa Peninsula -not only in it's rainforests, but in it's surrounding marine environment as well. Botanically, the Osa Peninsula has strong affinities with that of the Amazon and Orinoco basins, and its unique forests contain more endemic plants and animals than in any other area of Central America.

Corcovado National Park
Corcovado National Park, known as “The Jewel of the Costa Rican National Park System” was established in 1975 and extended in 1980, this 100,000-acre Park encompasses 13 major ecosystems, ranging from sea level to 745 meters. Its rainforests are by far the most exuberant in Central America, and its trees are comparable in grandeur to the best that the Amazon Basin and the South East Asian forests have to offer. Indeed, Corcovado Park holds the largest tree in Central America, a giant Silk Cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra) 77 meters tall. The Park embraces the largest remaining tract of Pacific Tropical Wet Forest in Central America.

Corcovado is patrolled from six ranger stations, four of which host visitors to the Park: La Leona on the southern coastal boundary of the Park, San Pedrillo on the northern coastal boundary, and Los Patos to the east. La Sirena is the largest Rangers Station and is the nucleus of Corcovado. It is also a research station.

This park protects 100,000 acres of rainforests, swamps, rivers, lagoons, marshes and paradisiacal beaches. Because of its isolated location, Corcovado protects animals that are scarce in other areas, such as the tapir, the crocodile, the ocelot, the jaguar, the giant anteater and the harpy eagle. Marine turtles such as the leatherback, the olive ridley and the green turtles arrive to nest at Llorona Beach, which is fortunately included in the park.

There are at least 500 species of trees, 140 of mammals, 40 of freshwater fish, 117 of amphibians and reptiles and 367 of birds. Fortunately for the ecosystem, but unfortunately for some hikers, there are over 6,000 species of insects. There are also deposits of gold, which proves to be a terrible ecological threat to the area, since “oreros” (gold miners) invade the park’s boundaries in search for the precious mineral.

Corcovado National Park is home to some of the largest populations of endangered species like the Jaguar, Bairds Tapir, White-Lipped Peccaries, Scarlet Macaws and Harpy Eagle. In a foursquare mile radius of the Corcovado National Park, researchers have found 150 species of butterflies, 400 species of birds, 124 species of mammals, more than 5000 plants and 550 distinct kinds of trees.

Golfo Dulce
The Golfo Dulce is one of the only four fjords in the tropics. It is also the calving area for both northern and southern pacific humpback whales, phenomenon occurring nowhere else in the world.

Nestled between the Osa Peninsula and Costa Rica’s south Pacific Coast is Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf), a large bay ringed by secluded beaches and the wonderful biodiversity of the region. Of the many tourist attractions Costa Rica has to offer, Golfo Dulce is the perfect destination for nature lovers, both those seeking adventure and those who want only to relax under a palm tree on the beach.

Circling the warm blue waters of Golfo Dulce is a tropical rain forest where one may encounter four species of monkey (spider, white-faced, squirrel and howler), Poison Dart frogs, Morpho butterflies, anteaters, agoutis, coati mundis, jaguars, ocelots and margays.

Beautiful birds abound, such as scarlet macaws, toucans, hummingbirds, great curassows, crested guans, trogons, aracaris, honey creepers, herons, tinamous, woodpeckers, wood creepers, ant birds and manikins.

During a 1996 visit by the Greenpeace ship Moby Dick, Captain Joel Stewart commented that there is "so much biodiversity... so many species, that one is almost forced to defend it."

Prophetically, a new national Park was recently declared in the area: the Piedras Blancas National Park. It takes its place alongside the Golfito Wildlife National Refuge and the Golfo Dulce Forestry Reserve.

- Conscious that nature and sustainable tourism can complement each other, the area features eco-friendly lodges as well as some of the country’s best sport fishing and surfing.

Puerto Jimenez
Puerto Jimenez is one of the largest towns on the Osa Peninsula, it is located in the southern part of the Putarenas Province and it is the last town before entering Corcovado National Park.

Before the park was formed, Puerto Jimenez was a logging and gold mining town. The residents of the town still do both, but to a lesser extend as the region is now protected. The town sports a lively mixture of “wild-west” style gold-miners, wealthy eco-tourists, budget backpackers, sports-fisherman, surfers, and a surprising number of celebrities looking for anonymity. The town also has quite a unique nightlife especially when one of the gold-miners cashes in a find. The town is located 22 miles west of Golfito by water, or 56 miles by road, and 53 miles South of Palmar Norte.