Costa Rica: Women’s Adventure Wild & Off-The-Beaten Path Osa Peninsula – (March 6 – 14, 2023)

Early Bird Price: $3165 per person
After January 1, 2023: $3365

Deposit Due January 15th: $600

Installments: 3 Equal Payments due December 6, January 6 and February 6, 2023

Availability: See below for real-time availability.

Travel Documents: A passport is required.

Travel insurance is available and recommended.

Cancellation Policy
Terms & Conditions

►Where Do We Stay?

• Night 1:  Alajuela
• Night 2:  Saledero Glamping
• Night 3:  Saledero Glamping
  
• Night 4:  Saledero Glamping
• Night 5:  La Leona Eco-Lodge
• Night 6:  La Leona Eco-Lodge
• Night 7:  Puerto Jimenez
• Night 8: Alajuela

►Day 1: Arrival in San Jose – Transfer to San Jose Area Hotel – Orientation & Group Welcome Dinner

Participants will arrive from the U.S. at Juan Santamaria International Airport in Costa Rica whatever time is more convenient. Participants will get a taxi from the airport for a 10 minute ride to the hotel. That evening we will have dinner, and an introductory meeting. It won’t be a late night since tomorrow we have an early flight to the coast.

►Day 2: Scenic Flight to the Osa Peninsula and Boat Taxi to Saladero Lodge – Travel to the Puerto Jimenez Boat Trip Across Gulfo Dulce Move into Saladero Eco Lodge

Morning:
We will depart from San Jose in the VERY early morning and enjoy a scenic 50-minute flight over mountains blanketed in thick forest to Puerto Jimenez on the Osa Peninsula. We will take taxis to the nearby dock to meet our boat for an exciting tour of the Golfo Dulce where we will likely encounter marine mammals, birds, and sea turtles.

Afternoon:
Our home for the next three nights, Saladero Eco Lodge nestled on a calm beach suitable for swimming and surrounded by towering, untouched rainforest. We will meet the owners and friendly staff, have lunch in the open-air dining room, and take an orientation tour of the grounds and garden led by your host Harvey. Later, we will take a tour on one of the Lodge’s primary rainforest trails into Las Piedras National Park in hopes to see birds and other wildlife.

Evening:

Birding 101 Class. Learn the basic of birding including how to use your binoculars, field guides, and sound and visual ID.

►Day 3: Bird Walk & Mangrove Paddle – River Kayak and Mangrove Adventure – Rainforest Night Hike

Day Tour:
With the calls of howler monkeys and birds, the stirrings of the rainforest make it easy to start the day early with your guided bird walk! After a breakfast, we will wait for high tide to begin our 3 hour adventure of exploring the unique mangrove and river ecosystems by kayak. Pulled deep up the river by boat, we board our kayaks and paddle around hidden coves and giant mangroves in search of birds and maybe even a crocodile! Then when we have seen, all that we can see, we let the river take us gently out, back into the waters of the gulf.

Evening:
Rainforest night hike.

►Day 4: Rainforest and Reef Wildlife – Visit a Wildlife Sanctuary for up close animal encounters! Dive in and snorkel a shallow coral reef!

Morning:
Breakfast at 7am. We will travel by boat or kayak to the Fundacion Santuario Silvestre de Osa (Osa Wildlife Sanctuary) for a 1.5-hr tour. Here, will learn about the efforts to rescue and care for orphaned wildlife or those that have been victims of the animal trade. If we are lucky, we may be visited by one of the free-roaming spider monkeys that call the Sanctuary “home.”

Afternoon:
After lunch back at the Saladero Eco Lodge, we will make our way by kayak or boat to the Los Mongos reef a short distance away. Have your underwater cameras ready to capture images of this amazing marine ecosystem!

►Day 5: Transfer to Puerto Jimenez – La Leona – Night Hike

Morning:
Breakfast at 7am. We leave Saladero Eco Lodge and enjoy the 45-minute boat ride back to Puerto Jimenez. We will stop in town for a snack and travel 2-hours by taxi through agriculture land and secondary rainforest to the coastal town of Carate on the south side of the Osa Peninsula. Once we ride as far as the taxi can take us, we will drop our backpacks off with the horse cart that and continue on foot to La Leona Eco Lodge. This is a 45-minute hike down the picturesque volcanic black sand beach where the rainforest meets the Pacific Ocean to La Leona Eco Lodge.

Afternoon:
After we have lunch and make ourselves at home in our luxury raised platform tents, we will relax for the afternoon until we take a night hike after dinner.

►Day 6: Monkey Camp Hike & Coconut Oil Workshop

Morning:
After a hearty breakfast, we will take a 3 hour hike up the trail to monkey camp. This trail goes behind La Leona and eventually summits on a ridge that overlooks the lush forest, cascading waves, and endless Pacific Ocean. Be on the lookout for poison dart frogs, bats snoozing in leaves, and any of the four species of monkey who frequent the area.

Afternoon:
Enjoy the beach and La Leona Lodge hammocks before we begin go make our own coconut oil from scratch. Led by a local woman from a nearby village, you will see what it takes to make coconut oil that you will get to take home.

Evening:
Night hike.

►Day 7: Beach Hike – Taxi Transfer to Puerto Jimenez – Women’s Cultural Exchange

Morning:
Sleep in. Wake gently on your own, or get up early for guided bird hike at dawn. We will enjoy a leisurely morning, taking in the last bit of the jungle camp. Come to breakfast with your backpack packed and ready to load onto the horse cart, it will go ahead before we do. Mid-morning we hike back up the beach to meet our taxis and return to Puerto Jimenez. Lunch will be packed to go and eaten on the way.

Evening:
We will meet with an NGO that is helping local women via tourism. This is an opportunity to learn how to make and buy crafts, cultural exchange, and to help support women-owned businesses. Dinner with the NGO.

►Day 8: Zip Line Adventure – Fly back to San Jose

Morning:

Start your journey on the 800-acre private reserve that includes primary and secondary humid tropical rainforests. Take delight in overlooking the majestic Pacific Ocean while waiting for your tour to begin. Once you begin, your bilingual guides will teach you much about the Osa in a fun and informative manner along the way. You will be able to tell that they are extremely knowledgeable about the area but they also know how to keep you safe with the first-rate gear, climbing methods, and other maneuvers so you can enjoy soaring hundreds of feet above the jungle.

Once your zipline tour is over and you are back on the ground, you will enjoy a local snack of fresh fruit and beverages. You can then enjoy walking through the numerous paths filled with mountain terrain and natural serenity. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled because you will have the opportunity to see all kinds of insects and animals unique to the region, including howler monkeys, sloths, iguanas, scarlet macaws, poison dart frogs and much more!

Afternoon:
Flight back to San Jose. Overnight in Alajuela.

Evening:

Farewell dinner. Overnight at Brilla Sol.

►Day 9: Departure Day

Breakfast. Return flights to USA.