Tortuguero Canals, Costa Rica

Costa Rica Spotlight: Like to Take a Trip on the African Queen “Down the Tortuguero River”

Let’s  travel to Costa Rica and take this wonderful lyrical five hour trip , not down the Amazon, but down the Tortuguero River to the Tortuguero Canals, and Tortuguero National Park, which run  parallel to the Atlantic Ocean on Costa Rica’s north eastern  Caribbean sea shore.    We are not on the African Queen and we  are  not Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.  But we are having just as much fun floating dreamily down the Tortuguero River and the tranquility soothes the savage within us.  We pass an Ilan Ilan Tree and smell it’s  sweet fragrance,  “things for which the most famous French Perfumes are make of.”

A flock of green macaws suddenly fly from the top of the rain forest, making a swooping sound and land unexpectedly very near us.   Fresh water turtles, basking in the warm sunshine,  lounge lazily on the logs lining the side of the river.   Howler monkeys shake the branches high in the rain forest canopy,  certainly getting our attention.

Dug out canoes pass us painted in bright colors of green and yellow.  The local indigenous people who inhabit this region scout these waters for their daily food supply, mostly Tarpon, a large fish with beautiful white flesh.   These people are mostly self sufficient.  They grow their own vegetables and pick the wild fruit of bananas, coconuts, and wild pineapple.  They fish the waters and and hunt the wild forest  for the small pork,  a  pig weighing around three pounds.

At night  along the long stretches of unspoiled beach, we see the green sea turtle coming ashore, digging a large hole and laying its eggs.   We  are here in the month of July and hundreds of green sea turtles  can be seen here.   We visit the Caribbean Conservation Corporation in the small village of Tortuguero. It’s purpose to to study and protect these sea turtles.

How can I arrange a tour to the Tortuguero Canals?  You can purchase a 2 night or 3 night all inclusive package.  Contact Ann at  anncreed23@gmail.com for the information you need about booking  this  2 night-3 day  ( All Inclusive)tour of this region.

What time of year is best to visit here?  This is a very rainy area of Costa Rica…no specific dry season here but we do get sunny mornings and many days it does not rain at all.  So any month of the year is good.

What is the weather like in the region of the Tortuguero Canals?  It is warm and humid.

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