Costa Rica Eco Tourism: Tirimbina Rainforest Center
Eco tourism in Costa Rica takes many forms, is enjoyed or experienced differently, affects people in different ways, and produces different societal consequences-some obvious, some not. And, indeed, the very word "eco tourism" brings different images to mind in different people.
For many people, Costa Rica eco tourism is about experiencing Costa Rica's unbelievable biological diversity. Though it is only the size of little West Virginia and comprises about 1/10,000 of the world's land surface, almost one of every five species of plant and animal on the planet are found in Costa Rica. The country has more species of butterflies than all of the countries on the entire African continent combined. There are nearly as many kinds of birds found in Costa Rica as in the entire continental United States. The country has created the world's largest Green Sea Turtle preserve off the Caribbean Coast at Tortuguero National Park. 35% of the world's species of whales and porpoises swim in its offshore waters. Humpback whales from Antarctica travel thousands of miles north to Costa Rica each year while humpback whales from the Arctic travel thousands of miles south to the same waters. Corcovado National Park, just 20 miles long and some 8 miles wide, has been described as "the most biologically intense place" on the planet by National Geographic. People who visit Costa Rica to see or experience any of these things are best described as "vacation eco tourists."
But, eco tourism in Costa Rica is more diverse than Costa Rica bird watching, taking a Costa Rica photography tour, and hiking jungle trails to lovely waterfalls-which brings this author to an internationally recognized but little known and relatively little visited place called the Tirimbina Rainforest Center.
The Tirimbina Rainforest Center sits on about 850 acres (345 hectares) of primary rainforest. "Primary rainforest" is the original, never logged, rainforest that covered 99% of Central America when Christopher Columbus explored its Caribbean coast and discovered (and named) Costa Rica in 1502. Over the ensuing centuries, widespread logging and burning to make more agricultural areas decimated primary forests and only vestiges of this important resource remain.
The Tirimbina Rainforest Center's life story goes back to 1960 when a fellow named Robert Hunter arrived in Costa Rica from the U.S. to work for the Inter-American Institute for Science and Agriculture. He bought the land today occupied by the Center and set about preserving it. Mr. Hunter invited other scientists and researchers to visit. One of those researchers was Dr. Allen Young of the Milwaukee Public Museum, an internationally known and acclaimed expert on rain forests and cacao cultivation. He, and others like him, who have visited the Center over the last 40 years belong to a distinct group I like to think of as "research eco tourists."
Dr. Young 's fascination with the tropical rainforest at Tirimbina carried over to the Milwaukee Public Museum itself. In the mid 1980s, the Museum created a permanent exhibit about the tropical rain forest, based upon Tirimbina, that it called "Exploring Life on Earth." Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children have visited the tropical rain forest exhibit and diorama as "virtual eco tourists" and wondered about tropical forests. Mr. Hunter subsequently sold Tirimbina to the Museum which managed it as a research center until 2006. Today, it belongs to a Costa Rica nonprofit organization, the Asociacion Tirimbina Para La Conservacion, Investigacion y Educacion which continues to manage it for tourists, students, and researchers and provides educational outreach to local communities.
I recommend visiting the Tirimbina Rainforest Center if you are any of the following: (a) A scientist or researcher interested in rain forest biology; i.e., a tropical "research eco tourist." The Center is a working rain forest research facility which has hosted many national and international projects over the years. A lot of doctorate research, graduate study, and museum projects have also taken place here; (b) A college student looking for a unique study abroad opportunity. Beginning Spring Semester 2010, Ball State University of Indianapolis will initiate a new Study Abroad in Costa Rica program directly from the Tirimbina Rainforest Center. College students will get college credits and live with local families. Though the program is modeled after two very popular Ball State study abroad programs in London and Australia, this study abroad opportunity will have a uniquely Costa Rica flavor for each "student eco tourist"; or (c) Intrigued about seeing or visiting a real working tropical forest research center that also provides educational and family activities like hikes through primary rainforest over five miles of trails; a frog tour; a bat tour; a bird tour; a night tour, and even a chocolate tour. There is an aerial tram and boat tour, too, plus a large number of optional activities (visit the Tirimbina Rainforest Center web page for a list). The Center has overnight accommodations and a restaurant on site for "family ecotourists."
Although it has been known to the tropical forest research community for over 40 years, Tirimbina Rainforest Center is only visited by 8,000 Costa Rica eco tourists a year. It is off the beaten path but if if you are planning to travel to Costa Rica, give the Center serious consideration if you are interested in eco tourism in Costa Rica.
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