Rara Avis Rainforest Reserve

Rara Avis is a privately run Reserve located next to Braulio Carrillo National Park. By virtue of the relative difficulty in reaching it, this 1,335 hectares of high altitude rainforest is accessible only to overnight guests. It takes about 3 hours to travel from Las Horquetas de Sarapiquí which is 1½ hours from San Jose to the lodge within the reserve – a bumpy journey involving a tractor, jeep or horses. This remoteness is one of its most alluring charms and helps to retain an impressive variety of wildlife. Its border with the much larger Braulio Carrillo National Park is also an important feature enabling species migration throughout the area.

Of the wildlife at Rara Avis, you can hope to see tapir, capuchin, howler and spider monkeys, coatis and silky anteaters. Jaguars, ocelets, margays and puma are cats which do exist in the forests here, but the best you can hope for is to find tracks. The reserve’s impressive range of birds (367 bird species) makes it a popular place for keen birdwatchers and you can see many species from the comfort of a rustic lodge within the reserve. A short trail winds its way from the lodge to the impressive 55m La Catarata waterfall which winds its way through the rainforest.

Conservation

The forests at Rara Avis were purchased by a Costa Rican corporation established for the purpose of managing rainforest profitably and wisely. The site was chosen due to its likely proximity to the Braulio Carrillo National Park, its comfortable temperature, relatively level terrain, biological richness and close proximity to San Jose. After the nearby National Park was created, conservationists at Rara Avis lobbied to have the boundary extended to the Reserve and also to the La Selva Research Station. This was brought about by President Monge who signed a decree to expand the parks boundaries.

Within the philosophy by which Rara Avis was created, is the intention to show that intact living rainforest can be a valuable economic resource that can produce substantial economic benefits for the surrounding communities. Their motto is that ‘Rava Avis is the classroom and nature is the teacher’. As such, they encourage tourism, biological research, and the development of new ways to use the rainforest without destroying it.

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