Costa Rica Jungle to Coast Traverse

Puerto Jimenez · Costa Rica

Challenging7 daysNorth America~£800 est.

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Overview

Corcovado protects the largest remaining sweep of Pacific lowland rainforest in Central America, and its wildlife density is frankly unfair: on the traverse from Los Patos ranger station to Sirena you can reasonably hope for all four Costa Rican monkey species, tapir tracks that turn into actual tapirs, scarlet macaws shrieking overhead in pairs and, for the lucky, a puma crossing the trail at dawn. Sirena station itself - reachable only on foot, by boat or by airstrip - sits between river mouths where bull sharks and crocodiles share the estuary, and the final day out to Carate alternates steaming forest with long, empty Pacific beach where you time the headland passes to the tide. Independent walking is no longer permitted: a licensed guide and station reservations are compulsory, and Sirena's bunks sell out months ahead for the December to April dry season, which is firmly the time to go - wet-season trails are leech-rich mud and some rivers become uncrossable. Carry three to four litres of water, start each leg at first light for wildlife and heat, and lock food away from the raccoons and coatis that raid camp. A week from Puerto Jimenez with guide, permits, meals and station nights runs about £800.