The constant eruptions of the Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica that have been registered since yesterday and throughout the day today have caused ash fall to different parts of the Great Metropolitan Area. The activity this Sunday, December 9, began since the early morning hours (1:15 a.m.) and again (6:52 a.m.) with a column of ash that reached over 800 meters above the crater, 4.140 meters abo...

Costa Rica became the first country to gather 25 tons of plastic in under 8 hours, this gives the country the Guinness Record which was previously held by India which had gathered 23 tons in less than 8 hours. Only type 1 and 2 plastic bottles counted. The activity took place at the Pedregal Event Center in San Antonio de Belén, Heredia, here all the plastic was gathered and weighed which re...

The morning of this Wednesday, December 28, at 7 a.m. local time the Turrialba Volcano registered another eruption with a column of ash that reached close to 500 meters above the cater, 3,840 meters above sea level (12595.2 ft). The eruption carried on for a couple of hours, with ash reaching several areas of the Central Valley, including Santa Ana and Tibás in San José and San Rafael in Heredi...

A special operation carried out by personnel of the Ministry of Environment (MINAE) through the Units of Control of the Corcovado National Park, the Environmental Operation Group of the National System of Areas of Conservation (GOA) and the Frontier Police, concluded with the arrest of 12 people who were carrying out illegal activities in the Park such as extraction of gold, illegal hunting and in...

Saturday, November 24th at 00:19 a.m. the Turrialba Volcano had another important eruption, which you can appreciate in the video included in this note. An impressive column of ash and incandescent material can be appreciated. “The Turrialba Volcano maintains important eruptive activity, which went from frequent events during the morning and the beginning of the afternoon yesterday (Friday),...

A 4.2 magnitude earthquake was felt in most of the Great Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica the evening of this Thursday, November 22 at around 10:39 p.m. According to the National Seismology Network, the epicenter was 1km, East of Purral in Goicoechea. The movement was felt as strong in most of San Jose, Heredia and Alajuela. The origin of the earthquake is a fault of the Caribbean plate....

On Wednesday, November 14th, the American biologist being treated at San Juan de Dios Hospital in San Jose, died of cardiorespiratory failure, after having been bitten by a rabid bat while exploring a cave in Copey de Dota with his family. The scientist was 43 years old, and his name is being withheld at the request of his family. The biologist was admitted on October 21st to the Intensive Care...

Meet the Rhinoceros Beetle-Probably the strongest animal in the world  and maybe one of the ugliest. They are BIG. The heaviest known Rhinoceros Beetle (Dynastinae), weighed in at 8.4 oz, the size of a female rat, but this badass bug can fly. There are some 300 different species of Rhino Beetles, many of them native to Costa Rica. They can lift 850 times their own body weight, which is like a huma...

Photo Credit: The Waterfall Trail. A thermal waterfall to the north of the Irazu Volcano in Costa Rica could be the highest of its kind in the country. With a fall of approximately 130 meters (426 ft) its hot water is the product of the action from the volcano.The Caliente River which is formed by thermal waters is found a few kilometers north of the volcano crater. The exact location is well k...

Photo: Javier Lobon-Rovira A photograph taken at Veragua Rainforest in Limon, Costa Rica has been named a Highly Honored Finalist in the prestigious 2018 Windland Smith Rice Awards for Nature's Best Photography. The photograph will be featured in the 23rd Annual Windland Smith Rice International Awards Smithsonian Exhibition at the famed Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washi...

La Ponderosa Adventure Park is celebrating the birth of the latest member of its family, an oryx by the name of Dan. East African Oryxes are antelope’s native of Africa, they have a brownish-gray coat and their face and legs have white and black markings, their long horns are almost straight. These animals are endangered species, listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conserva...

The Costa Rican Government announced a package of decrees and a directive to promote the use of electric cars. At the beginning of this year the Government approved the Electric Transportation Bill which established several tax exemptions on new electric cars of even 100% depending on the cost of the same. This new decree benefits those that want to buy used electric cars of no more than 5 ...

This Sunday, November 4th two of Costa Rica’s volcanoes registered important activity; the Turrialba Volcano in Cartago presented an eruption with an ash column that reached 500 meters above the crater or 3,484 meters above sea level (12595.2 ft). In Guanacaste, the Rincon de la Vieja volcano began its activity at 7:45 p.m., the weather conditions at the time of the eruption didn’t allow to con...

Sofia is the name of the new baby giraffe that was born at the Ponderosa Adventure Park in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, the 13th giraffe born in the country and the fourth so this year, the others that were welcomed this year in the park are Maira, David and Lydia. In total, the tower of giraffes at the park is composed by 14 giraffes, “this means that the country already has a genetic reserve of th...

After years of conservation efforts and coordinated work between the Ministry of Environment (MINAE), the park rangers of the National System of Areas of Conservation (SINAC) and the neighbors of Tortuguero, the results are not visible, the population of sea turtles and jaguars in the area has increased. Tortuguero National Park was created in 1970 and it was one of the first areas of conservat...

The Costa Rican Public Polce Force rescued two live sea turtles that were being transported inside a vehicle in the area of Moin in Limon. The discovery was made during the night patrols when at 2:20 a.m. of Wednesday the officers noticed a suspicious vehicle, which they ordered to stop, this is how they found two live sea turtles one on the back seat of the car and another on inside the trunk of...

Costa Rica was the site of the Bird Challenge 2018, and activity that took place between October 4 and October 12 as part of the “Ruta de Aves” (Bird Route) organized by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT). “Costa Rica stands out in the world being the home of over 900 species of birds in a territory of just 51,100 square kilometers, the country has more species of birds than the United Stat...

Today, the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano in Guanacaste registered an eruption after several months of relative calm. The column reached close to 1000 meters above the crater, some 2916 meters above sea level (9564.48 ft), it was a short eruption that lasted close to 2 minutes. According to OVSICORI, no reports have been received of ash fall in the nearby communities, however, they recommend pre...

This was a hot topic for discussion at the Break Free from Plastic Initiative held Tuesday in Manila, where it was revealed that Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestle are among the companies that contribute the most to ocean-pollution via single-use plastics. Back in August 2017, Costa Rica announced its goal of completely eradicating single-use plastic by 2021, thereby becoming the first country in the wo...

The Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica has been presenting a more constant and intense activity since the beginning of October. The activity began today at 6:30 a.m. and its still ongoing. The ash column reached close to 500 meters above the crater of the volcano, 3,840 meters above sea level, (approx. 12,595 ft. above sea level). The National Seismology Network reported that the volcano mainta...

In the frame of the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction, the non-governmental organization, Volcanoes Without Boarders in coordination with the Irazu Volcano National Park and the Earth Sciences Section of UNESCO is organizing several free guided visits to the Irazu Volcano this Wednesday, October 10. “The educational guided visits will be carried out under the concept “Volcanologi...

Cameras located at the Turrialba Volcano National Park caught the moment it registered an important eruption this past October 5th. During the eruption, incandescent material was expelled. The National Seismology Network reminds the public of the dangers they expose themselves to if they venture to climb the restricted area near the crater of the volcano. The Turrialba Volcano is an active v...

The Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica has maintained relatively calm in the past weeks with just the regular column of gases and vapor that can be seen coming from the crater and occasional small eruptions. This Monday, however, the volcano registered an important column of ash that reached close to 500 meters above the crater, 3840 meters above sea level (12,595 ft above sea level). The directio...

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 6-7 million people in the world are infected with Chagas Disease, a possibly fatal disease spread by the bite of a bug with the cute name of the “Kissing Bug”. Most of these people live in Latin America, usually in areas up to 1,600 meters above sea level, and Costa Rica has thousands of infected individuals, many of whom are completely una...

The VIII Call for the financing of projects with funds of the First Debt-for-Nature swap between the United States and Costa Rica, invites non-governmental and community organizations to present proposals of projects for the conservation of forests to opt for donation funds. Debt-for-nature swaps are financial transactions in which a portion of a developing nation’s foreign debt (in this case ...

Fins Attached a Marine Reasearch and Conservation organization, announced a recent successful scientific expedition, two adult tiger sharks, four hammerhead sharks, one silky shark, one manta ray, and one whale shark were tagged with acoustic transmitters in Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica. The movements of animals tagged with acoustic tags are tracked by acoustic receivers, or listening st...

Costa Rican biologist Esteban Brenes, Director of Science and Conservation of the Costa Rica Wildlife Foundation and coordinator of the project Nai Conservation for the protection of tapirs was awarded the "UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme Young Scientist Award" (MAB Young Scientists Award). This award provides young researches funding to support their research on ecosystems, natural resour...

The Government of Costa Rica was notified by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the decision by the Arbitration Court in relation to the David Richard Aven et al c. Costa Rica (known as “Las Olas”). This arbitration was presented by a group of US investors in the year 2014 due to the Government shutting their real estate project down.  The claimants cited the...

With the installation of “bunker style” shelters, the Poas Volcano National Park became the 8th active volcano in the world to have these types of structures in place for the protection of visitors, affirmed Guillermo Alvarado Induni, specialist at the Technical Assessment Committee of Volcanology and Seismology of the National Emergency Commission (CNE). The other volcanoes in the world that h...

The whale and dolphin watching season began in Costa Rica a couple of weeks ago, but it is this Friday, September 7 that the annual whale and dolphin festival kicks off at the Marino Ballena National Park in the South Pacific. This beautiful National Park known for its rock and sand formation in the shape of a whale’s tail, is organizing the tenth edition of the Festival that will extend from ...

The Protection and Control authorities of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) in a joint operation with the Border Police, Public Security and Coast Guard Service in the Corcovado National Park and the Manuel Antonio National Park, detained 10 men this week in relation to environmental crimes. According to Enrique Obando from MINAE, three men were detained in the sector of Playa Rey...

The first massive “arribada” (arrival) of olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) of the season started this past weekend and will extend through September 4th.According to the Ostional Development Association the number of sea turtles that arrived during this past weekend exceeded one million. The months of September, October and November are the months when higher number of sea turtl...

Costa Rica is home to a great variety of animal species, among them 6 felines, do you know which ones? There are no lions or tigers in Costa Rica, in fact the two largest felines to be found in the country are the jaguar and the puma, which are also the biggest felines found in the American continent, the other four wild felines found in the country are the ocelot, the margay, oncilla and jagua...

The Poas Volcano National Park opened its doors to the public again this past Friday, after several months of worked that involved fixing the areas that had suffered damages as a result of the eruptions and building new shelters for the security of the visitors. As it had been announced in the past months the Park now has controlled access, with only 50 people being able to enter at a time; tic...

Fishermen in Costa Rica protested yesterday in Puntarenas and blocked roads, for several hours demanding to speak to representatives of the Government; the Ministry of the Presidency, Rodolfo Piza, agreed to meet with representatives of the sector with the condition that they lifted the roadblocks that left many drivers stuck for hours, specifically in the road to Barranca; leaders of the fisherme...

The seventh edition of the Lionfish Capture Tournament in Gandoca, Manzanillo, Limon, will take place September 29 and 30th and registrations are now open. This event is organized by the Association of Artisanal Fishermen of the South Caribbean through the Area of Conservation Amistad Caribe (ACLAC) and other institutions. The purpose of the activity is to help control the invasive species, a ...

Scientists are now predicting that due to global warming and disease, chocolate may be virtually unavailable by the year 2050. Costa Rica could be one of the lone holdouts in the cultivation of cacao, the source of chocolate worldwide. Sweet! Cacao trees only like a particular temperature range. They will not grow outside of a very narrow geographic band, 20 degrees North and South of the equat...

The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Environment are working together to protect wildlife in all the protected areas of Costa Rica. One of the most challenging areas in the country when it comes to the protection of wildlife is Corcovado National Park, its remote distance, difficult access and big extension complicates surveillance. Corcovado is among the top 10 best National Pa...

This August 24, Costa Rica celebrates National Parks’ Day, under the slogan “National Parks: Our true treasure”, the Ministry of Environment (MINAE) and the National System of Areas of Conservation (SINAC) invite all national and foreign tourists to visit the parks for free. Over 25% of Costa Rica’s territory is under some kind of protection law, whether they are National Parks, Biological Res...

The Association Costa Rican Network of Accessible Tourism launched the campaign “Dona Tapa” (Donate Lid) an initiative that will allow  reuse lids of plastic bottles and other plastics to be recycled to build walkways on the sand at several Costa Rican beaches that will allow wheelchair use. The retractable structures would make Costa Rica the first country with accessible beaches in the Centra...