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Tortuguero National Park
During your visit to Tortuguero with Laguna Lodge, you will explore the National Park’s system of waterways which is fabulous! A natural plumbing system of canals and navigable lagoons that crisscross the park from southeast to northwest, bringing a constant fresh supply of water to the park lowlands, providing the perfect habitat for 57 species of amphibians, 111 species of reptiles and 60 species of mammals.
Plants include aquatic lilies, monkey ladder, passion fruit tree, liriums. Besides, more than 300 species of birds live in Tortuguero for all part of the year. Birdwatchers commonly see keel billed toucans, trogons, Montezuma oropendolas and a variety of parrots. Birds common along the canals include green and great blue herons, egrets, kingfishers, anhingas, jacanas, sun grebes and several species of hawks and kites.
Other animals commonly seen are fishing bats, three-toed sloths, iguanas, basilisk lizards, poison dart frogs, howler, white-faced and spider monkeys. The tracks of river otters, collared peccaries and Baird´s tapirs are often seen on the banks of rivers and canals. Caiman are commonly observed in the waterways, which also are home to gar-fish, manatees, crocodiles, crustaceans. Jaguars, ocelots and kinkajous inhabit the park, but are not too often seen.
Turtles
Tortuguero beach is the most important nesting site of the endangered green turtle in the Western Hemishpere. Giant leatherback, hawksbill, and loggerhead turtles also nest here. The green turtle population is believed to have come perilously close to extinction in the 1960s when nearly every female turtle arriving to nest in Tortuguero was taken for the export market for turtle soup.
The Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC) was established in 1959 specifically to study and protect Caribbean green turtles. Working closely with the Costa Rican government, CCC helped establish Tortuguero National Park in 1970, a move that offered protection to the turtles and strictly limited the number of turtles that could be taken.
With the park established, development along the coast would never stretch much beyond the existing village, and the presence of CCC researchers and park guards would discourage poaching. The park now includes over 19,000 hectares (46,900 acres) and protects 22 miles of nesting beach from the mouth of the Tortuguero River south to Parisimina. Tortuguero National Park and the Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge to the north, comprise the largest remaining adjoining tract of lowland wet tropical forest on Costa Rica's Atlantic Coast.
Since the 1950s, CCC scientists and participant volunteers have conducted extensive nest monitoring programs every year in Tortuguero and shared the findings with Costa Rican park managers. In 1995, CCC began monitoring the Tortuguero beach during the spring months (March - May) for nesting leatherback sea turtles. CCC research confirms the global importance of Tortuguero to both green sea turtles and more recently for leatherback sea turtles. In addition, a few rare hawksbill sea turtles also nest in the refuge each year.
Information provided by the Caribbean Conservation Corporation in Tortuguero (CCC): http://www.cccturtle.org/tortnp
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