ecotourism: La Selva research station

Wild pigs...our guide said they can be mean....you know, eat people.

monkey

Blue Jean frog

We visited La Selva research station last Thursday. La Selva was originally used for scientific purposes alone. Overtime it has evolved into a research center for Costa Rican ecology. It is also now available to the public. There we were able to hike through primary tropical rainforest discovering new things we had yet to see.

There are 3,700 acres where about 1,000 different tree species can be found. There are hundreds of different types of birds that can also be found in the rainforest. There are about 50 different species of snakes, some being very poisonous. There were poison dart frogs everywhere! We saw three species of monkeys: spider, white-faced, and howler. Hundreds of researchers visit La Selva each year to study the tropics.

La Selva research station promotes ecotourism. They have guides to inform the visitors of the vast amount of different species and their importance, what researchers there are studying, etc. The guides explain the importance of keeping the environment safe and how we need to protect the diversity found in this tropical rainforest. The guides help the visitors to understand the culture and history of this tropical rainforest. Ecotourism at La Sevla has helped protect the ecosystem found there and has also educated many visitors.