Web site - www.costarica-birding-oroverde.com

Oro Verde offers a variety of birding, hiking and horseback tours in our private nature reserve, where the neotropical wildlife abounds in a wide range of different habitats.

Oro Verde has 150 hectares (374 acres) of primary and secondary lowland tropical rainforest and a unique primary mountain forest that rises to 670 meters (2,200 feet), overlooking Ballena Marine National Park and the awesome, isolated beaches below.

At Oro Verde, dawn is greeted by a powerful chorus of howler monkeys (congos) who sound like a cross between a dog, a pig and a car wreck! You cannot help but to smile when you hear them!

Our guests enjoy hundreds of bird species, including

toucans and parrots, trogons and motmots, manakins and falcons, chachalacas and so many more, in one of Costa Rica's very finest birding regions. The most recent La Merced Christmas Bird Count, which included many of Oro Verde's bird species, won top national honors in Costa Rica–home to over 850 of them!

At Oro Verde, giant, bright blue morpho butterflies (morfos) dance across your jungle path as you encounter other fascinating forest creatures such as our white-faced Capuchin monkeys (monos cariblancos), tayras (tolomucos), tree sloths (perezosos), coatis (pizotes), red-tailed squirrels (ardillas coliroja), anteaters (tamanduas), pacas (tepezcuintles), agoutis (guatusas) and more.

Please visit Oro Verde's new web site for additional information.

Our Location

Oro Verde is located only 18 km (10 miles) south of Dominical. Look for the Oro Verde sign along the Costanera Highway, then turn off and travel up 3.5 km (2 miles) to our new reception office—and enjoy a fun, relaxing jungle adventure with us!

Oro Verde does not currently offer overnight lodging, but we are located close enough to Dominical so that any of the area's lodgings providers will surely meet your needs.

What We Offer

World Class Bird Watching— We offer morning and afternoon guided birding tours that run from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. (which includes a light breakfast), and also from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ( per person). (Special all-day guided birding tours are also available upon request.)

Exploring the Primary Forest — Enjoy a 5-hour guided hike through our primary rainforest (which includes a typical Costa Rican lunch), beginning at 7:00 a.m. ( per person).

Horseback Tours — Climb into the saddle for a guided horseback ride either up through our deep forest or an open-trail trek to the Morete River waterfalls (both tours last approximately 3 hours and may include a light snack). Tours begin at 7:00 a.m. and also 3:00 p.m. ( per person).

Jungle Hiking Tours — Experience a fascinating 2-hour guided nature trek through Oro Verde, beginning at 7:00 a.m. and also at 3:00 p.m. ( per person).

Reservations

Please call ahead for tour reservations at 743-8072, 843-8833 or 827-3325. You may also e-mail us at the address shown above, but please allow some time for our reply.

If you should happen to drop by our reception office while we are away on tours, please leave a note for us and we'll get back to you just as soon as we can. Also, please feel free to discuss any special tour arrangements that you might care to make with us.

We do not currently offer overnight lodging to the general public.

More About Oro Verde

The expansive Oro Verde Private Nature Reserve has been owned and operated by the Duarte family for nearly 50 years. We are dedicated to the preservation of our wonderful rainforest and all its creatures. Our family has warmly welcomed visitors from all over the world for over two decades. In 2003, we built a new reception office with modern restroom facilities and also improved our hiking and horse trails to better serve our international birding guests and other ecotourists.

Even though Oro Verde's rainforest is expansive, we limit the number of daily visitors in order to minimize disruption to the natural order of things. It is mainly for this reason that we prefer advance tour reservations.

We ask that visitors remember to wear suitable foot ware for hiking and horseback riding, and thank you for respecting the quiet, natural serenity of our forest and surrounding area.

Oro Verde's office manager is Noemy Duarte and our principal nature guides currently include Luís, Ronny, Alexander, Marvin and José Delfín Duarte, but don't be surprised if you're greeted or guided by yet another member of our big family! We also hope you'll have the chance to meet our wonderful matriarch, Doña Eida, whose beautiful smile has for decades warmly greeted hundreds of guests at Oro Verde, all of whom leave here as our friends.

The Duarte house is your house, and Oro Verde's rainforest is your rainforest. Please contact us for a reservation soon. We look forward to welcoming you to Oro Verde!

Pura Vida!