Sendero Sueco
The forest trail.
Hans Hillewaert — CC BY-SA 3.0 · kirybabe — CC BY 2.0 · micah420 — CC BY 2.0
Costa Rica's first protected area, created in 1963 through the efforts of a Swedish-Danish couple, Nicolás Wessberg and Karen Mogensen, who settled here and, alarmed by forest clearing, raised donations to protect it, the seed from which the country's whole national park system grew. The reserve protects tropical forest on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula and the sea around it. Visitors walk the Sendero Sueco trail through the forest for about four and a half kilometres, up and down, to quiet, secluded Cabo Blanco beach, facing a rocky islet whitened by seabird droppings that gave the place its name. The forest holds howler and capuchin monkeys, deer, coatis and many birds, and the islet has colonies of pelicans and boobies. The trail is tiring in the heat, so carry plenty of water. The reserve usually closes on Mondays and Tuesdays. Nearby Montezuma is a quiet seaside village with waterfalls and forest. Never feed or touch wild animals and watch them from a distance; feeding harms them and makes them aggressive.
The forest trail.
Quiet, secluded.
Seabirds.
Southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, near Cabuya, about 10 km from Montezuma
After the white rocky islet offshore, whitened by seabird droppings.