Golfo Dulce and the Osa Peninsula

 Our Surrounding Forest

Piedras Blancas National Park in Costa Rica covers 30,000 acres of undisturbed tropical lowland primary rainforest and 5,000 acres of secondary forest, pasture land and rivers. Golfo Dulce Retreat and the land that we protect sit within the park and account for almost 3% of the park’s primary rainforest coverage. Tropical lowland wet forests, such as the one that surrounds us and one of the last remaining in Central America, are some of the most threatened and least studied types of vegetation on our planet. Costa Rica established the Piedras Blancas National Park in 1992 as an extension of the Corcovado National Park, in the Osa Peninsula, to which it is connected by a forest corridor which ensures biodiversity and self-sustaining ecological and evolutionary processes between wildlife populations.

It is mainly through the effort of small entities that the park has since expanded, as charitable organisations and individuals like us bought many privately-owned areas within and just outside of the park, helping to concentrate efforts to halt the deeply damaging deforestation that was taking place in much of the region. 

Piedras Blancas hosts one of the most diverse arrays of wildlife on the planet; researchers at the University of Vienna now believe that its biodiversity is very similar, if not higher, than that found in Corcovado National Park -  described by the National Geographic as "the most ecologically intense place on earth."

The year round growth opportunities offered by Golfo Dulce's unique climate of sustained elevated temperature (average 26.6ºC/80ºF) and humidity mean that the flora found in Piedras Blancas is among the richest on the planet. It encompasses several thousand different species of plants including hundreds of tree species, herbs and epiphytes, some very rare and in danger of extinction and with a high level of endemism. Some of the larger trees to be found in the Park as well as within our property are ceibas, espavels, gallinazos, balsa, guapinol, and many more. The forest is also host to an abundance of lichen and fungi displaying beautiful fruiting bodies. The species diversity of fungi is second only to that of the insects.

Neighbours With A Cause

At Golfo Dulce Retreat, we are lucky to have as next-door neighbours Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center, a privately-owned Wildlife Reintroduction Site, which, in the last 20 years, has released about 300 scarlet macaws (Ara Macao) into the wild. Scarlet macaws were once present in Piedras Blancas National Park but the population had regrettably been wiped out due to poaching and pesticide use.

Thanks to the hard work of our neighbours, the population of scarlet macaws here is now considered to be self-sustaining and we hope these beautiful birds will continue adorning our skies with no more future threats. Indeed, one of the most memorable encounters you will have while staying at Golfo Dulce Retreat will be with wild scarlet macaws. You will often see these large, colourful birds feeding in the trees around our tropical gardens and you will hear their loud screeching calls throughout the day. Throughout the years, Rescate Wildlife Rescue Centre has released many other species of endangered animals, including squirrel and spider monkeys, great curassows, red-lored parrots, mud turtles and others.

Although Rescate Wildlife’s location near us is not open to the public, you can help support their invaluable work by visiting their main centre in Costa Rica at La Garita, which is just a 10 minute taxi-ride from San Jose’s International Airport and, with its many educational wildlife displays and even a zip line course, provides a great day out for the whole family.