Corcovado National Park

The crown jewel of Costa Rica's national park system, Corcovado National Park (Parque Nacional Corcovado), is comprised of an enormous 103,290 acres (41,800 ha) of tropical rainforest. The largest of Costa Rica's parks, it encompasses about a third of the Osa Peninsula and embraces an unbelievable amount of its biodiversity. Corcovado Park represents a very diverse population of flora and fauna, including 10% of the mammals found in the Americas. Declared a protected area in 1975 to prevent the harvest of precious resources, it is believed to have the largest concentration of macaws and virgin lowland rainforest in Central America. Also, it is one of the very few locations in Costa Rica that harbour the endangered squirrel monkey. As it is one of the most complex freshwater/saltwater ecosystems in the world, Corcovado is home of one quarter of the tree species in Costa Rica. There are 6,000 species of insects, 140 species of mammals, almost 400 species of birds, 116 species of amphibians and reptiles and 40 species of fish. Some of the most frequently viewed wildlife includes jaguars, turtles, anteaters, butterflies, sloths, crocodiles, poison-arrow frogs, several species of monkeys, and, with luck, maybe even a tapir.