Here is the rainforest you dream to see. Down at the bottom of Costa Rica, in the very south of the country that is thankfully not on the tourism “superhighway” and explored only by adventurous intrepid travelers, lay rugged mountains, free-flowing rivers, plunging waterfalls, striking beaches and magnificent towering trees in dense rainforest.

This is the wilder side of Costa Rica. A place where jaguarsroam freely, scarlet macaws soar overhead, and humpback whales and dolphins frolic in the cal

Talking about deserts in Brazil, a country which contains 30 percent of the world’s fresh water and has the biggest tropical jungle on the planet, sounds wrong, but it isn’t. The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Maranhão State is the reason why. An expanse of some 300 kilometers of white dunes and lagoons that could well be considered one of the most fascinating places in the world.

Surrounded by large mangroves, home to clams, crabs and birds (in fact, the region is one of the best for b

“In a remote and lush corner of Costa Rica, lies a realm of giant trees, roaring monkeys, jaguars on the prowl, and breaching whales. This is one of the last places on Earth where virgin rainforest grows right to the high tide line, and a visitor might walk for hours – or days – along its isolated coast without meeting a single person. This is the Osa Peninsula and there is no other place in the world like it.”

-Osa: Where the Rainforest Meets the Sea by ecologist Dr. Trond Larsen and photographe

Nosara, Costa Rica is renowned for some of the best surfing in Costa Rica, and for being a yoga paradise. But there are plenty of other exciting adventure and nature tours to do as well on this string of beautiful beaches along the Nicoya Peninsula.

Here are five fun tours to try during your visit to Nosara and Playa Guiones:

1. Miss Sky Canopy Tour / 8:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. daily.

You have to try a canopy zip-line tour when you vacation in Costa Rica. The Miss Sky Canopy Tour by Nosara is one of t

The Spanish colonial city of Grenada

I remember traveling to Costa Rica in the early 90s. This was when travelers were just starting to take notice of this lush land of jungle and beaches. As an owner of a travel agency, I heard stories of clients of mine buying pieces of beachfront property for $8,000 on Costa Rica’s endless Pacific beaches. When I finally visited, I recall driving from the Pacific side east to the Caribbean and seeing few tourists. I was in awe of the landscape and ecosystem. L

Costa Rica is a top world travel destination because it has something for everyone: tropical rainforest, green mountains, spectacular beaches, active volcanoes, wild rivers and lakes, and charming towns. The dry tropical forest and wide savannas of the north Pacific are as varied as the dense, steamy jungle of the south Pacific, the misty cool cloud forest high in the central mountains, and the distinctive character and culture of the Caribbean Coast as compared to the Pacific.

Here is our list

Walking through the Costa Rica rainforest in rainy season is the time to hear frogs: calling, croaking, barking, whistling, tinkling, trilling and making all manner of loud sounds.

Why are they so noisy? The quick answer is to attract a mate, and to defend a territory – especially in breeding season. In an evergreen rainforest, newly formed ponds, puddles and pools erupt into a cacophony of several species of frogs all calling and competing at the same time for mates.

The tropics hold many such na

North of the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano in Guanacaste, there is a place where the dry brown rolling plains give way to tall, lush green forest. Suddenly you are in an enchanted paradise of gushing waterfalls, warm thermal springs, sky blue streams, and bright orchids. This is a place where jaguars, pumas and tapirs roam free. Listen for the call of howler monkeys and the symphony of tropical birdsong with cicadas whirring in tempo. This is Sensoria.

Sensoria is a private nature reserve that pro

The latest celebrity stars of Costa Rica are cute and lovable, with masked furry faces that seem to smile beatifically. In a country full of exotic wildlife, sloths are one of the most well-known animals, and those at the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica are gaining fame on the popular TV show Animal Planet’s “Meet the Sloths”.

You can see these fascinating animals in person at the Sloth Sanctuary, just south of Limon Costa Rica in the small town of Penhurst on the Caribbean Coast.

The Sloth Sanct

The morning sun filtering through the rainforest foliage at Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge in Costa Rica shimmers gold as the light catches the strands of the complex web woven by a golden orb spider.

I’m generally not a big fan of spiders, like most people, but the golden orb is fascinating. These large spiders weave enormous pigmented webs, adjusted in color for camouflage, with protecting chemicals, and such incredible strength and elasticity that bioengineers and other scientists are studyin

Bats are mammals with a bad reputation – their good name stained with images of blood and vampires by Hollywood. The truth is that bats are an important part of the environment, helping with pest control, spreading seeds and pollinating plants.

Of the approximate 1,100 bat species on Earth, 112 of them are found in Costa Rica. Four of Costa Rica’s national parks have been declared as important areas for the conservation of bats: La Amistad International Park, Braulio Carrillo National Park, Santa

Sandwiched between North and South America and two oceans, Costa Rica is an amazing bridge of biodiversity bursting with natural wonders. For such a small country, it is home to more than 500,000 species; 250 of which are mammals.

Costa Rica’s south Pacific region of Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf) is one of the most intense zones for plants and animals. Surrounded by the Corcovado National Park, Piedras Blancas National Park, and Golfito Wildlife National Refuge, Golfo Dulce is wild jungle at its best

A flash of brilliant red, blue and yellow, and a loud raucous squawk, and you know you are in the jungle. There is nothing quite like the sight of wild Scarlet Macaws flying overhead or contentedly gathered in bunches in a treetop to give you the full feeling of being in the tropics.

Their distinctive noisy cry carries for miles, so you usually hear them before you see them. When you do sight a Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao), they are a breathtaking rainbow of colors – fire engine red bodies with suns

If bird-watching is your passion, then you definitely want to add Costa Rica to your “Top 10 list of places to go birding.” The small Central American country is home to more than 870 bird species – more than in all of the United States, Canada and Mexico combined – and is a bird-watching hotspot. A single day of bird-watching in this enchanted corner of the globe can earn sightings of up to 85 to 150 different species.

Costa Rica’s strategic location in the tropics bridging North and South Ameri

History

Itatiaia National Park is the first and so also the oldest National Park of Brazil. It was inaugurated in 1937 and covers almost 30.000 hectares of the
larger Environmental Protection Area of the Mantiqueira mountain range.

Getting there from Rio de Janeiro is a +/- 200 km drive via the BR116 (Rio – São Paulo). The distance from São Paulo is about 250 Km. I’m
lucky to live in Volta Redonda, which is only 80km from the park.

Veu da Noiva (bride's veil) waterfall in Itatiaia

How to get ther

As we drove up into the clouds, it began to look not like Costa Rica anymore. Mist swirled around us. Large-leafed Prehistoric-looking vegetation lurked in the gloom. All windows were up; I was wearing a big fleece jacket, and I was contemplating turning on my car’s heater for the first time ever.

When I told friends and family we were going to the “Cerro de la Muerte” (Mountain of Death) for Thanksgiving at the end of November, the overwhelming response was: “Sounds like fun. Not.” The Mountain

Approximately one hour south of Agadir, Morocco, lies the Souss-Massa National Park. The park is one of the final green enclaves before reaching the Moroccan desert, and it has become an important nature reserve protecting endangered species, forming an ideal ecosystem for pink flamingos, cranes and the bald ibis.

In Sous Massa visitors can get close to endless species of wildlife, both flora and fauna.  There is also an interesting swamp and some beautiful beaches in the park; the perfect places

Like the lion or the tiger, the jaguar is the “king of the jungle” in the Americas. It is the largest feline in the Americas and the third largest in the world, notes Wikipedia. With a range extending from Southwestern United States and Mexico across much of Central America and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina, there are only an estimated 15,000 jaguars left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

“The jaguar is still an abundant species, but is threatened by habitat loss