Nature & Wildlife
A Living Laboratory
The microclimate between Miravalles and Tenorio supports one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in Costa Rica. This is what lives here.
Where Two Climates Meet
The collision of Caribbean and Pacific weather systems in the Bijagua valley creates conditions that support an extraordinary range of species — many of them found in very few other places on the planet.
Scientists have been quietly cataloguing the flora and fauna of this microclimate for years. What they are finding continues to surprise them. New species of orchid. Amphibians not yet formally described. Bird species at the edge of their known range.
Birds
400+Over 400 bird species have been recorded in the Bijagua region, including the resplendent quetzal, multiple species of toucan, and dozens of hummingbirds drawn to the cloud forest flowers.
The area sits on a major migratory corridor, making it a year-round destination for serious birders.
Sloths & Mammals
60+Both two-toed and three-toed sloths inhabit the forest canopy. Howler and white-faced capuchin monkeys are a common sight, along with tapir, peccary, and the elusive ocelot.
Dawn and dusk are the best times to spot larger mammals moving through the forest edges.
Amphibians
50+The red-eyed tree frog is the icon, but the real story is the diversity — glass frogs, poison dart frogs, and species that exist only in this narrow microclimate band between the two volcanoes.
Night walks with a local guide reveal a world invisible by day.
Butterflies & Insects
1000+The blue morpho butterfly is the showstopper, but entomologists come from around the world to study the insect diversity of this region — still largely uncatalogued.
The forest floor and understory hold as many secrets as the canopy above.
See it for yourself
No photograph does justice to the experience of standing in this forest. Come and witness it.