Nicoya Peninsula (Guanacaste)

The beach of Ostional is the scenery for a rarely-seen biological wonder. In rainy season, the week before new moon, hundreds – and sometimes hundreds of thousand sea turtles come to one specific mile of beach at Ostional to dig their eggs into the black, volcanic sand.

The Ostional Wildlife Refuge in Costa Rica was created in 1984 to protect one of the world’s most important nesting sites of the olive ridley sea turtle.

Only olive-ridleys and their close relatives, Kemp’s Sea Turtles, the latter an Atlantic species synchronize their nesting in mass emergences or “arribadas”, the Spanish word for arrivals. 

Some days or weeks before the mass nesting, the “flotilla”, an increasing number of turtles, congregates close offshore. After some days, prompted by some secret signal, the “arribada” will begin. At first, a few hundred turtles will come out on the beach, followed by a steady stream of animals for the next three to seven days.

The Camaronal Wildlife Refuge is know for it’s surfing and fishing, but the site is perhaps best known for the important role it plays in the preservation of one of Costa Rica’s treasures, the sea turtle. The best time to view sea turtles at the Camaronal Wildlife Refuge is during Costa Rica’s rainy season, which runs from May through November.

To travel to this project site, you’ll have to go to Samara, and from there take private transport arranged by us.