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Tico Explorers

Explore Caribbean

Costa Rica’s Caribbean region brings together coastal communities, rainforest and winding waterways. From Tortuguero to Cahuita and Puerto Viejo, discover wildlife alongside Afro-Caribbean and Indigenous cultural heritage. Explore at a thoughtful pace, respect local guidance and discover how small choices can care for both community and nature.

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Black Mangrove

Pencil-shaped breathing roots rise from the mud around this mangrove.

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White Mangrove

Rounded leaves and two tiny stalk glands are useful mangrove clues.

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Buttonwood

Small buttonlike fruit heads help identify this coastal tree or shrub.

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Expanded Lobster Claw

An upright open arrangement of colorful bracts rises among broad green leaves.

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Wagner Heliconia

Broad pink-and-cream bracts form a colorful upright flower display.

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Spiral Ginger

Spiraling leaves lead the eye to a red-orange cone of bracts.

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Hot Lips Plant

Two bright red bracts surround tiny pale flowers in the forest understory.

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Roble de Sabana

A native tree whose pink trumpet flowers brighten forest edges and open landscapes.

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Ceiba Kapok Tree

Huge buttress roots help make a mature ceiba unforgettable.

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Spanish Elm

Laurel is a native tree that can grow tall with a relatively slender trunk.

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Mountain Immortelle

Poro gigante is a South American tree widely planted and naturalized in Costa Rica.

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Tropical Almond

Tropical almond is introduced to Costa Rica and is now familiar along many beaches.

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