My experience in Corcovado National Park: the review

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My experience in Corcovado was unbeatable. If you are thinking about traveling to Costa Rica, the country of Pura Vida, visiting Corcovado National Park is on your checklist.

I couldn’t miss a post for you about this adventure. So we invite you to discover what it was like to venture into Corcovado National Park. Hopefully, it will help you 🙂 Here we go!

At the Agujitas de Drake Hotel

The howler monkey that haunts our hotel these days has been flooding the jungle with its sound for a while now. The sky begins to clear and the alarm clock rings. We are already awake, it is 4:30 on an April day that looks like it will be cloudy in Agujitas de Drake.

Having breakfast this early and in a hurry has never been my specialty, but you have to eat something. I don’t want to get hungry during the Corcovado National Park Tour.

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Start of the boat adventure

My experience in Corcovado begins leaving the hostel at 5:00 am, we walk the ramp that takes us to the beach, turn to the left.

Obviously, we also bought a good Costa Rican coffee with some empanadas at “Foodtruck Gaby.”

The sky is clear and cloudless and, a few meters away, we see the group that will be our companions and the guides with whom we will discover Corcovado.

At 5:50 am we are all ready and the boat arrives at 6. So we have a few minutes to get to know each other and get energized for the experience in Corcovado with coffee and empanadas.

Also, this way we avoid delays in case we have any stragglers.

We start sailing and after 15 minutes the dolphins start jumping next to the boat, what a feeling!

We continue to hallucinate with the views of the coast, full of vegetation. In an hour and a half we are already in front of La Sirena entrance, in the Corcovado National Park.

Entrance to Corcovado National Park

The boat can’t get too close to shore because it’s low tide and the rocky ground is in sight so we put on our sandals and walk! It’s about 15 meters that separate us from the sand.

Firstly, we enter the park, take our temperature, wash our hands and sit down on some benches to put on our boots and leave our sandals to pick them up on the way out.

Secondly, we start walking at 8 am, this promises. It’s good time to see life in the jungle, in a few hours the heat will make the animals calmer.

The guide is experienced, it’s not just how he observes everything around him, he literally goes barefoot.

Going into the jungle

My experience in Corcovado has only just begun. Gradually, we move deeper into the jungle, first through the secondary forest (which has been logged or disturbed and is in the process of being renaturalized).

In 20 minutes we are at La Sirena station. We pay a visit to the WC, sign in the visitors’ book and enter the primary forest.

I don’t want to spoiler about everything to see, as there is a luck factor when it comes to seeing animals. But certainly being a quiet group, being accompanied by an experienced guide who shares and to whom they share locations where others have seen animals, helps and a lot.

In the middle of the jungle

Monkeys, birds, huge trees… We are always walking in the shade because the trees compete so much for the light that the sun does not get to touch the ground directly with its rays.

From time to time our guide goes off the path and goes a little into the jungle to see if he finds any animals, sometimes there is luck and sometimes not.

I can’t say exactly how long we spent walking, I was so focused on trying to see animals that I lost track of time. Then looking at the photos I saw that it had been more than three hours.

Suddenly the road rings a bell, we seem to be very close to the entrance. We are next to a stream that flows into the sea and creates a small delta. The guide shows us videos from a few days ago, in which a crocodile was seen in action.

When I go into the jungle or any kind of forest, the same thought always comes to mind: how many animals are watching me right now and me without being aware? To be surrounded by life without being able to see it… how much I would like it to be the other way around! To be the one who can see all the life around me without being noticed.

The guide continues to prowl the area, it is clear that he is looking for something, we have seen him comment with another guide but he can’t find it. Suddenly he comes back with an illuminated face, he literally gets the same face as an excited child.

He gives us directions on how to approach: keep our distance from the animal, absolute silence and be stealthy. We followed him and a few meters away there he was, lying on the sand, covered by some branches: the Tapir, the most iconic animal in Corcovado National Park.

We had plenty of time to see and photograph him, until he decided to stand up and exposed those thin little legs that don’t seem to belong to that wide body of his. It was the finishing touch.

The experience comes to an end…

Now we go back to the entrance of the park, put on our sandals again, walk a few meters to the boat (this time much less because the tide has risen) and set course to Drake.

On the way we make a stop to see a unique waterfall, La Llorona, cover of National Geographic in 1986. I tried to find that cover but had no luck, so I leave you with the photo we took from the boat.

We arrived at the same beach from which we left, ate together at a seaside restaurant, the typical “Tico” lunch (yes, there are vegetarian options) and said goodbye to the group. But first we exchanged a few photos and phone numbers, it’s always nice to have a beer in the afternoon with a nice group.

We have already told you about our experience. If you’ve already visited this wonderful Corcovado National Park, how was your visit?

If you’re thinking of going, we hope you found our story helpful and that you enjoy it as much or more than we did. And if you also get to see a Tapir, don’t hesitate to tell us about it!