Costa Rica coastal tour, Caribbean Explorer

Planet

The Caribbean Explorer itinerary takes you to some of Costa Rica’s most ecologically diverse and sensitive areas and offers you the opportunity to visit one of Costa Rica few remaining indigenous communities, the Bribri. Our partners represent 28 community organisations around the country which combine traditional ecotourism with community-based tourism, where visitors meet Costa Ricans who are conserving their forests and rivers and practicing sustainable agriculture. As such, conservation is an integral part of all our holidays in a country which is the world leader in environmentally-friendly tourism.

All the accommodation options we offer in Costa Rica are very sensitive to their surroundings and many are located in rural communities, natural reserves, or indigenous territories which have not changed their way of life to adapt to the needs and tastes of mass tourism. They all meet our environmental criteria, including energy and water conservation, locally-sourced food and providing information to guests about ecological issues and how behave appropriately. You also have the opportunity to get more directly involved in community conservation efforts.

Many lodges go well beyond this, because the leading organisations in rural community tourism are also leaders in the protection of forests, water sources and endangered species. Using environmental education, community awareness campaigns and legal action, they confront the many threats to wildlife on a daily basis. They are involved in a large variety of other actions such as environmental education, watershed and forest protection, solar energy, organic farming and biogas production.

Your guides on this trip are both accomplished naturalists in their own right and intimately familiar with the wonderful variety of Costa Rica’s nature. For example, you will be led by a Bribri community guide through their indigenous territory, which both celebrates their traditional way of life in harmony with nature and brings them income to help sustain it.

People

The communities we and our partners work with are a fantastic example of how tourism can bring benefits for both visitors and hosts if properly managed. They have decided how they want to present themselves and they direct and run their own operations to make you feel more like a family guest than a tourist. They are proud to share who they are and what they do, plus the impressive natural and cultural riches they have inherited - you will get to participate in everyday life and gain a unique insider’s view of the country. Community-owned lodges bring income to the community as a whole and they are often involved in a range of other community development activities.

In the more built up areas of Costa Rica we have looked for hotels that are locally-owned, which employ and provide training to Costa Ricans and which support local projects or charities. Many of the accommodations exceed these basic requirements - a good example is the Pachira Lodge in Tortuguero National Park where 90% of hotel staff members are from the area and receive ongoing training. The lodge supports the Sea Turtle Conservation centre, rural police, local schools and the local church and also assists with the healthcare in the village and encourages environmental stewardship such as constructing a community recycling centre.

In addition, the profits made by our Costa Rican partner are reinvested in capacity building programs, promotional campaigns and micro-loans for their member communities. Each year they provide technical assistance and workshops on diverse tourism related activities, such as Creole cooking workshops, marketing skills or product development, as well as running a rural tourism fair to promote responsible tourism.