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Tico Explorers

Explore Central Pacific

Costa Rica’s Central Pacific region connects beach communities with forest and river landscapes. Jacó, Quepos and Manuel Antonio offer different ways to explore the meeting of land and ocean. Look closer with Pico and Tati, ask questions and show care by respecting local communities and leaving nature undisturbed.

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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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Roble de Sabana

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

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Cortez Amarillo

Golden trumpet flowers can brighten the branches of an almost leafless tree.

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Cenizaro Rain Tree

An umbrella-shaped crown shelters a world beneath its branches.

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Lemonwood

Madrono has a smooth-looking trunk that sheds thin flakes of reddish bark.

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Firebush

Firebush is a shrub with clusters of narrow orange to red tubular flowers.

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Ceiba Kapok Tree

Huge buttress roots help make a mature ceiba unforgettable.

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