The Most Biologically Intense Place on Earth

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Proclaimed ‘The Most Biologically Intense Place on Earth” by National Geographic, Osa Peninsula is home to 1/2 of all the species in Costa Rica, or an incredible 2.5% of the biodiversity on the total planet!

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This 35 x 20 mile (56 x 32 km) strip of land located in the southwest corner of Costa Rica occupies a mere 0.00000085% of the earth’s total surface area, yet supports 13 major ecosystems. This includes a lowland rainforest, freshwater lagoons, coastal marine and beach habitats, elevated primary forests, a cloud forest, and the most extensive mangroves in Costa Rica.

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This biological diversity, coupled with a unique combination of ecosystems, has made the Osa Peninsula a top global conservation priority. Half of the rainforest and swamps in this area are protected by Corcovado National Park, established in 1975, and various private reserves. It truly is a magical experience of land, water, and life.

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The Osa is hailed by many as a last frontier that remains a largely untouched remote wilderness. There is truly no other place in the world like it for nature-lovers and adventurers. A pristine and untouched paradise, much of the peninsula has yet to be explored by scientists. No doubt there is a wealth of bio-diversity still to be discovered!

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With many hotels, businesses, and individuals having bought tracts of land with the sole purpose of increasing the protected forest lands, there is genuine hope that the Osa Peninsula will remain a beautifully wild and unspoiled wilderness.  A truly unique and quite beautiful oasis in an increasingly over populated planet, a place where animals can roam freely with little or no fear of their human neighbor.

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Fact and Figures

 

• The most significant wetland ecosystem and mangrove forests in Central America

• 700+ species of trees. 80 species are endemic, and some trees are 200 ft (60 meter) tall

• There are more tree species in Osa than all the north temperate regions in the world combined

• The largest remaining tract of lowland rainforest in Pacific Mesoamerica

• 2-3% of flora is unique to the area, and not found anywhere else in the world

• 323 endemic species of plants and vertebrates

• The largest population of scarlet macaws in Central America

• More than 4,000 vascular plants

• More than 10,000 insects

• 463 species of birds 

• All 4 monkey species - capuchins, howlers, spider, and the endangered red-backed squirrel monkey

• 5 feline species – jaguar, puma, margay, ocelot, jaguarondi 

• 140 mammals, including 25 species of dolphins and whales

• Elevations range from sea level to 2550 ft (780 meters)

• Local human population of 5000

• Pristine waterfalls