Costa Rica tailor made vacation, highlights

Planet

The Costa Rica Uncovered itinerary takes you to some of the country’s most ecologically diverse and sensitive areas and offers you the opportunity to visit two its remaining indigenous communities at Térraba and Los Campesinos. Our partners represent 28 community organisations around the country which combine traditional ecotourism with community-based tourism, where visitors meet Costa Ricans who are conserving their forests and rivers and practising sustainable agriculture. As such, conservation is an integral part of all our vacations in a country which is the world leader in environmentally-friendly tourism.

All the accommodation options we offer in Costa Rica are very sensitive to their surroundings and many are located in rural communities, natural reserves, or indigenous territories which have not changed their way of life to adapt to the needs and tastes of mass tourism. They all meet our environmental criteria, including energy and water conservation, locally-sourced food and providing information to guests about ecological issues and how behave appropriately. You also have the opportunity to get more directly involved in community conservation efforts.

Many lodges go well beyond this, because the leading organisations in rural community tourism are also leaders in the protection of forests, water sources and endangered species. Using environmental education, community awareness campaigns and legal action, they confront the many threats to wildlife on a daily basis. They are involved in a large variety of other actions such as environmental education, watershed and forest protection, solar energy, organic farming and biogas production.

The itinerary has been developed around 6 protected areas which are managed by local communities, using ecotourism to bring in money for community development and conservation. Any money you spend on parks entrance fees goes directly to supporting national conservation programmes. In addition, your local guides on this trip are both accomplished naturalists in their own right and knowledgeable about the impacts of tourism, and will offer advice on how you can keep your environmental footprint to a minimum during your stay.

People

The communities we and our partners work with are a fantastic example of how tourism can bring benefits for both visitors and hosts if properly managed. They have decided how they want to present themselves and they direct and run their own operations to make you feel more like a family guest than a tourist. They are proud to share who they are and what they do, plus the impressive natural and cultural riches they have inherited - you will get to participate in everyday life and gain a unique insider’s view of the country. Community-owned lodges bring income to the community as a whole and they are often involved in a range of other community development activities.

In other areas of the country we have found hotels which meet our minimum requirements that they are locally-owned, employ and provide training to Costa Ricans and support local projects or charities. For example, the Danta Corcovado on the southern Osa peninsula is a small, family-owned business that is involved with several local conservation organizations. The hotel also supports a youth organisation that aims to provide economic alternatives, including tapping into tourism, to young people in the area.

When there are options (much of this trip is spent is rural and isolated locations), our guides will recommend the best local restaurants that are not only delicious and unique, but also let you support small Costa Rican businesses directly.

In addition, the profits made by our Costa Rican partner are reinvested in capacity building programs, promotional campaigns and micro-loans for their member communities. Each year they provide technical assistance and workshops on diverse tourism related activities, such as Creole cooking workshops, marketing skills or product development, as well as running a rural tourism fair to promote responsible tourism.