Green Life Volunteers Office
Butterfly Farm Project
Parrot Rescue Project
Organic Farming Project
National Park Volunteer Project La Sirena Ranger Station
National Park Project San Pedrillo Ranger Station
National Park Project - Caño Island
Teaching Children and Environmental Education Puerto Jimenez
Solar Power Project Location
Fundacion Neotropica - Research Station
Osa Peninsula
The Osa Peninsula is located in the southwestern part of Costa Rica within the Puntarenas Province. The largest town and “hub” of the Osa Peninsula is Puerto Jimenez, closely located to two little coastal villages Carate and Matapalo further South.
Puerto Jimenez is a place which used to be very quiet and remote with a history of gold mining and logging in the 1960s. Though, Puerto Jimenez has transformed into the largest town of the Osa Peninsula with an estimated population of 1780 residents.
This town has everything to offer for example: beautiful beaches, many hotels & resorts, travel agencies, rental tour companies, supermarkets, a hospital, a pharmacy, various gift shops, bars and restaurants. In addition, organizing your trip can easily be done with the various transportation possibilities like taxis, local and public busses, public boats to Golfito and even a local airport which is able to fly you all the way up to San José. Not to forget the many assortment of activities this town has to offer: sport fishing excursions, hiking, mountain biking, rappelling horse riding. Surrounded by the natural beauty you will be able to see scarlet macaws, crocodiles, monkeys and various colorful birds.
Puerto Jimenez is also the location of the GREEN LIFE VOLUNTEERS OFFICE, and also the main location of many of our projects, including the ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION, BIRD CONSERVATION, VETERINARY VOLUNTEER, & TEACHING CHILDREN.
Corcovado National Park
Corcovado National Park is one of the highlights of the Osa Peninsula. It hosts around 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity and is thus a biodiversity hotspot. You can book an overnight stay in the National Park (which is unique in all of Costa Rica). You have to have a guide that takes you into the park. The hike takes around 8 hours but it’s entirely worth it! The overnight stay is cheap and you can bring your own food into the park. The only more expensive part of the trip is the guide fee, which is around $100-$150 per day. The hike is only doable from Puerto Jimenez – from no other town can you do the 8-hour-hike into or out-of the park.
Moreover, it is recommendable to bring some food & beverages from Puerto Jimenez if you want to explore this place and also if you want to visit Carate which has a similar characteristics.
Another village is Carate which is located around 80 kilometers from Puerto Jimenez and only one hour half an hour drive from Matapalo. Carate is the last town before Corcovado National Park, and as such
Besides the National Park and the incredible wildlife, Carate is a secluded and quiet area which is great for relaxing and just to “get away from it all”.
Carate is one of our project locations, as we offer a turtle conservation project here that operates seasonally from around June until December.
On the way to Drake’s Bay is one of our PROJECT LOCATIONS, Rancho Quemado. We recently started sending volunteers to Rancho to help with teaching English, and a Bird and nursery/planting trees project. Another project which is close to Drake’s Bay is our NATIONAL PARK VOLUNTEER PROJECT. You’ll most likely come through Drake at some point when you’re on the National Park Volunteer Project.
- Canopy Zip Line
- Snorkeling/ Diving
- Dolphin/Whale Watching Tours
- Kayaking around the Mangroves
- Stand-up paddle boarding in the Gulf
- Visit to a wildlife sanctuary
- Crocodile watching
.. and more!
*SOURCE: Some content was derived from Anywhere Costa Rica’s website, https://www.anywhere.com/costa-rica/destinations/carate
