Tortuguero is a village on the Northern

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

coast of

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

in the Limón Province. The small village, which can be reached only by

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airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

, is sustained almost entirely by eco-tourism. The population is estimated at around 1200-1500. Tortuguero can be translated as ''Land of Turtles'', and gave its name to the neighboring Tortuguero National Park. The village is situated on a sand bar island, separated from the mainland by Tortuguero River and bordering the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. Tortuguero is renowned for its navigable canals that run through the rainforest in the national park, and has such earned the nickname of 'Central America's Amazon'. The beaches around Tortuguero are key

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...

ing sites for four species of sea turtle, including two critically endangered species. The National Park is also host to an incredible biodiversity of insects, resident and migratory birds, and mammals, including jaguars and four species of

monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

. Accordingly, there are four biological stations — the John H. Phipps Biological Field Station, the Caño Palma Biological Research Station, the ASVO station (Asociación de Voluntarios para Servicio en Areas Protegidas) and the GVI Jalova Biological Station — which operate from the area immediately around the village and concentrate on research and conservation of the local ecology, particularly the turtles. The ocean here can be dangerous to swim in due to rough surf and strong currents.

Transportation

Tortuguero is only accessible by boat or plane.

Air travel

There is a small airstrip which serves daily flights from Sansa Airlines via San José. Charter flights are also available with Nature Air or Sansa Airlines.

Canals and boat navigation

Some of the canals were built by the woodworking industry around the decade of the 1940s. These were later improved by the ideas of the engineer Rogelio Pardo Jochs, to whom the canals owe their current name. These improvements were made in the 1970s. Today the canals connect several lagoons, rivers and streams and allow boat navigation from Moín, near Limón city. Boat transportation is available via La Pavona to the north or Moín to the south.

Sightseeing

During September and October many local "guides" will offer tourists the opportunity to "help" turtle nests hatch. Be aware though, It is not allowed to dig up nest or touch the turtles, not even for the local guides. The only people allowed to interact with the hatchlings are the scientists from the STC (Sea Turtle Conservancy). When you are looking for hatchlings, or when you encounter them, please do not use white lights and camera's with flash, since it disorientates the turtles. The canals of Tortuguero gave the town its nickname of "Costa Rica's Amazon", and are a fantastic opportunity to see wildlife. Many guided boat tours leave Tortuguero and the surrounding lodges to see the wildlife, jungle, and canals. Cerro Tortuguero has been officially closed by the National Park and National Reserve service due to overuse and habitat destruction. Many local guides will still offer tours. For hikers, Cerro Tortuguero is a small hill roughly 6 km north of the village, accessible only by boat. It's only 119 m high, but offers good views of the area.

Climate

Tortuguero has a very wet tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.

References

External links

*
Caribbean Conservation Corporation
who operate the John H. Phipps Biological Field Station
Canadian Organization for Tropical Education and Rainforest Conservation
who operate the Cano Palma Biological Research Station

with details of travel and lodging
Tortuguerovillage.com, A Community Run Website to provide information for all things local about Tortuguero, Costa Rica
{{Authority control Populated places in Limón Province