World Travel 4 Indians

Tortuguero National Park

National parks are a sort of systematic endeavor to salvage the precious forests that were slowly getting obliterated from Costa Rica.

When the need to conserve the unexpended wilderness occurred, the national park system was formed.

Tortuguero National Park feature among the major national parks and a potential tourist attraction in Costa Rica .

Tortuguero National Park is characterized by its variety and diversity. The park boasts of eleven ecological habitats that range from rainforests to the herbaceous marsh communities.

Tortuguero National Park is home to nearly 300 species of birds amphibians. That includes the thirteen endangered animal Costa Rica that are on the brink of extinction.

The jaguars, ocelots, tapirs, cougars, river otters and manatees find a sheltered refuge in Tortuguero National Park. You will stumble upon crocodiles, iguanas and basilisk lizards positioned on top of the tree branches.

The manatees were considered extinct until a group of about hundred manatees were spotted in the remote lagoon within Tortuguero.

Tortuguero National Park is also the nesting ground for the five species of turtles that cover a long distance every year to reach the sand beaches to lay eggs. This has remained as unchanged practice for centuries.

Tortuguero National Park has trails that remains waterlogged quite often. The El Gavilan Trail incorporates both the beach and the rainforest while the trail that begins which is a vantage point overlooking the swamps and the coastline.

If hiking is not your cup of tea, then you can hire canoes from the Tortuguero Village and sail along the canals of the park.

This is one of the few Costa Rican national parks where walking isn't necessarily the best way to see things. The marked trail along the beach is used mostly for observing turtle nesting, but the best way to see most of the park is from a boat.

That doesn't mean you can't get a workout while nature watching; there are plenty of places to rent canoes and kayaks .

The extensive network of freshwater creeks and lagoons behind the beaches of Tortuguero are home to seven species of river turtles, Spectacled Caiman, Southern River Otters, a number of crustaceans, and over 50 species of freshwater fish.

If you take a trip on a tour boat, or paddle a canoe through the freshwater canals you are also likely to see Spider, Howler and Capuchin Monkeys and dozens of species of birds.

If you are lucky you might spot an endangered West Indian Manatee.World Travel 4 Indians is an international travel site and a repository of useful information on Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica and other major tourist attractions in Costa Rica and the world at large.