The canals
A dawn trip.
caspar s — CC BY 2.0 · Lars0001 — Public domain · KTWL — CC BY-SA 3.0 · S. Rae from Scotland, UK — CC BY 2.0 · Arthur T. LaBar — CC BY 2.0
A remote park on the northern Caribbean coast that no road reaches, accessible only by boat along rivers and canals or by light aircraft, yet one of the country's most visited. It holds a network of calm canals and lagoons between dense rainforest, palm groves and swamps. The finest experience is an early-morning boat or canoe trip on the canals, when wildlife appears: howler and spider monkeys, sloths, crocodiles and caimans, green basilisks running across the water, kingfishers, herons and toucans. Its name means «place of turtles»: its long beach is one of the Western Hemisphere's most important nesting sites for green turtles, which come ashore at night roughly from July to October to lay their eggs. They can only be watched on night tours with a licensed guide, with no lights or photos. The small, colourful village of Tortuguero sits on a sandbar between canal and sea, with simple lodges. Rain is heavy most of the year in the rainforest, so bring a waterproof jacket and shoes.
A dawn trip.
Monkeys and crocodiles.
Night tours.
Northern Caribbean coast, by boat or light aircraft only
At night, roughly July to October, for green turtles, only on tours with a licensed guide and without lights.