Osa Peninsula
The tropical rain forest is considered one of the most diverse ecosystems on the face of the planet, with one of the highest diversity rates of all ecosystems. This means that it has the highest concentration of different species per square meter; however, highest diversity translates in lowest density of animals, in other words a fewer number of individuals of each species per square meter.
The healthier the forest the easier to prove this theory; and what better place to see for ourselves than in one of the most pristine tropical forests in Costa Rica and Central America: the Osa Peninsula’s Corcovado National Park, a fascinating biologically complex tropical forest that is as pristine as it can get. It is literally a place so vast that you can walk 50 steps on a trail and be face to face with a jaguar or walk for 3 hours without seeing an ant.
Corcovado National Park is not only big, but isolated with no road access. The only way to get here is by boat, or to walk with all your gear on your back. This is one of the reasons why it has been kept so unspoiled. With this in mind, we spent the entire day exploring the beautiful location through a series of trails that took us into the depths of the forest. While on separate trails at different times of the day sightings of howler, white throated capuchin and spider monkey, hawks, toucans and scarlet macaws, along with spectacular views of the tropical rain forest were reported. During the middle of the afternoon, one of the groups decided to take a walk towards a waterfall, dipping into the cool mountain waters. Lowering our warm and steamy body temperatures put us in the best state of mind for truly enjoying the walk back to the beach and the ship. Tall trees with overlapping canopies, with big woody vines dangling from them, indicate that we were really in the presence of an incredible pristine forest. Although we did not run in to a jaguar today, we certainly did not come back empty handed.
