The Brown Eyed Iguana

Best Place to See Iguanas in Costa Rica

The Green iguana farm located on the Southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is the best place to see iguanas.  Here  they are protected  and breed and then released back into their natural habitat of the forest.

Also known as the Kekoldi Iguana farm for the family who runs it.  The Kekoldis are part of the Bri Bri Indigenous people who populate this region.

Iguanas are hunted for food, and also for the pet trade.  Which is a growing trade especially in the US.  Do Iguanas make good pets?  Well, I have heard different stories.  In Florida some friends of mine have a “pet iguana”  I’m not so sure that he is exactly a pet.  Although he is not aggressive and will let you rub his back, but I did not venture to pick him up.  He walks freely around the swimming pool  and the grassy lawn.  At night he has  a cage where he sleeps.   And for breakfast he has an over ripe banana, from Costa Rica.

Iguanas are actually lizards, big lizards, although we do not like to think of them as such.  And they love the sunshine which warms their  bodies because they are cold blooded.

In Costa Rica, Iguanas come in all sizes and colors.  I have seen them in Manuel Antonio National park where they seem not to be afraid of the tourist, letting you walk close  and photograph them.   Once I was in a very rustic ecolodge on Playa Grande in NW Pacific Guanacaste and two large iguanas were in my room.  One under the bed and the other on the window sill, but they ran off as soon as  I made a lot of noise, like screaming.

You may contact Willie’s Costa Rica Tours in Cahuita on the Southern Caribbean Costa if you would like to take the Iguana Farm Tour.