Staying at a beautiful rainforest lodge with views of the ocean, surrounded by pristine forest, our Festival of Wildlife showcases the best that the Osa Peninsula has to offer, particularly the Corcovado National Park.
Positioned within the Central American isthmus, a convergence of the flora and fauna of the Americas, Costa Rica is a tropical paradise. Nowhere in Costa Rica is this experienced more keenly than the Osa Peninsula, which is home to Corcovado National Park.
Labelled ‘The Most Biologically Intense Place on Earth’ by National Geographic, Corcovado is widely considered to be the jewel in Costa Rica’s ornate natural crown. Exquisite and seemingly untouched for centuries, it provides refuge to an astonishing diversity of species. It's the largest remaining tract of primary rainforest on the Pacific Coastline of the Americas, contributing to making it a biodiversity hotspot, believed to be home to 3 per cent of the world’s total biodiversity. Rather impressive for a national park that's approximately 425 square kilometres.
The inventory of recorded species for Corcovado is almost bewildering with more than 140 species of mammals, around 160 reptiles and amphibians, 465 bird species including the largest population of scarlet macaws in Costa Rica. Best explored on foot along a network of trails connecting ranger stations located in the forest, Corcovado holds no end of memorable and rewarding wildlife experiences during guided walks, in addition to ample wildlife and macro photographic opportunities. Evening outings provide a window into the nighttime world of Corcovado, and its abundance of nocturnal wildlife.
The rich coastal waters around the Osa Peninsula are important breeding grounds for visiting humpback whales, while bottlenose, spotted, common and spinner dolphins are resident and can be encountered in their thousands. With this plethora of marine life, we devote time to experience this through snorkelling and boat excursions.
We're accompanied throughout by our phenomenal Festival team who have specialist knowledge and expertise in various fields from natural history and ornithology, to wildlife and macro photography. The team will host an eclectic mix of workshops and presentations during our stay on the Osa Peninsula as well as accompanying our extensive programme of daily excursions, creating a real celebration of wildlife and nature. With the participation of Dr Rebecca Cliffe, we also have the opportunity to gain a unique insight into sloth ecology and conservation, with the possibility to contribute to sloth research in the field.
If you're looking for such a celebration in one of the planet's most biodiverse destinations, thriving with species observed above or below the waves, during the day or at night, on the forest floor or high in the canopy, then our Festival on the Osa Peninsula is the trip for you. The fantastic and fascinating flora and fauna of Costa Rica awaits.
Today we depart the UK on international flights to San José, the capital city of Costa Rica.
We're met on arrival and transferred to our accommodation nearby. The rest of the day is free to spend as you wish and recover from your travels. Some members of the Festival team will be on site though, and you can accompany them for a spot of birding or macro photography in the extensive gardens of our hotel.
This morning, we leave our accommodation in San José and transfer the short distance to the city's second airport to catch our charter flights to the Osa Peninsula.
Specifically, we fly to Drake Bay and on arrival we're transferred to our lodge and base for the Festival for the next seven nights.
Days3-8: Explore Osa Peninsula & Corcovado National Park
For the next six days, we enjoy the Osa Peninsula and Corcovado National Park, renowned as one of the most biologically diverse locations on the planet. Through a programme of different excursions on land and by sea, we can appreciate the immense wealth and variety of flora and fauna found in this secluded pocket of Costa Rica.
During our stay, we can join guided walks through the primary rainforest of Corcovado National Park, whale watching boat trips off the coast of the peninsula, navigate to Caño Island for spectacular snorkelling opportunities and night walks to encounter some of nocturnal species that roam the forest. In addition to this, there are specialist birding walks, macro photography sessions, sculpture and painting workshops and presentations also offer. Altogether, this provides an immersive and memorable few days in one of the planet's last great wildlife havens.
On our final evening on the Osa Peninsula, as is customary at the Festival of Wildlife, a gala dinner is followed by an auction, the proceeds of which will go directly to a local wildlife charity.
Day9: Return to San José
We enjoy our final morning on the Osa Peninsula before we make our way back to the airstrip at Drake Bay. From here, we catch our charter flights back to San José, where we're transferred to our nearby accommodation once again for our final night in Costa Rica. In San José, the rest of the day is free to spend as we wish.
Alternatively, we may join one of the extensions to continue our stay in this beautiful country and explore some of the other magical wildlife destinations that Costa Rica has to offer.
Accommodation: Hotel Bougainvillea, 1-night
Day10: Departure
We're transferred to the airport in time to catch our return overnight flights back to the UK.
Day11: Arrive UK
Please note: Pre and post trip extensions will be available which will allow you to explore other regions of Costa Rica and their wildlife. Extension options will include turtle-watching in Tortuguero, spotting quetzals in Los Quetzales National Park, visiting Caño Negro and more.
Details of these extensions will be available soon. However, if you would like to register interest, please let your travel consultant know which extension option is of particular interest.
Key info
Duration and price including flights from/to UK: 11 daysfrom £9,745 pp
Duration and price excluding international flights: 10 daysfrom £8,945 pp
Chris studied Geographical Sciences in Plymouth, however his first encounter with the wider world was in 1983, when he headed off to Zambia.
Under the tutelage of the late Norman Carr, the pioneer of walking safaris, he worked as a wildlife guide and managed a wilderness camp. On his return to the UK, he had a spell at a major tour operator before setting up Wildlife Worldwide in 1992.
Since then he has travelled the world in search of first-class wildlife experiences. He devised the Festival of Wildlife concept, which has spawned the Festival of Bears. An ardent conservationist, Chris has co-led each of these since their inception. He dedicates several weeks each year to communicating his irrepressible passion for nature to those who travel with him.
Emma is a popular and experienced wildlife photographer and tour guide, whose images have been printed in wildlife photography magazines.
Emma first entered the wildlife travel industry eight years ago, and now combines her role as a wildlife travel consultant with time in the field, leading wildlife photography trips. With a lifelong passion for travel and wildlife, she has a particular love for the smaller, often overlooked creatures of the world, specialising in macrophotography. She leads trips to a diverse range of destinations including Botswana, Bulgaria and Antarctica, and has travelled to all seven continents.
A member of the Wildlife Worldwide team, Helen is a qualified South African safari guide who following a trip to Baja California, discovered a passion for cetaceans.
Extending her marine mammal knowledge accordingly, she has also turned her attention to improving her ornithological knowledge throughout the different destinations she leads to, including South America and Europe. With her boundless energy, enthusiasm and eye for perfection, Helen will ensure you get the most from your time on her trips whilst sharing her passion for wildlife.
Bret is an award-winning wildlife photographer with a background in the wildlife travel and safari industry, with a particular interest in African and Australian wildlife.
After spending a year in Australia to pursue wildlife photography, he was rewarded with success at the prestigious Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition, as well as winning the Birds in Flight category in Bird Photographer of the Year. Bret has experience leading groups in Europe, the Americas and in Africa.
Mike Dilger has been an obsessive naturalist since childhood, equally at home either identifying wild flowers in the British countryside, or surveying the Amazon for hummingbirds.
With degrees in Botany and Ecology, Mike’s obsession with the tropics began when studying moths in the South American Andes. This then led to over five years carrying out research work in the tropical forests of Ecuador, Vietnam, Tanzania and Peru.
Finally emerging out of the bush and returning to Britain to find a job in television, Mike is probably best known as the wildlife expert on the BBC’s The One Show. Pontificating about everything from bumblebees to basking sharks, Mike has racked up over 450 appearances during his 15 years on the show.
His main job now is as a professional plate spinner, which involves intermingling TV commitments, tour-leading, writing and giving talks. Mike leads trips for Wildlife Worldwide from the Somerset Levels to the Scottish Highlands in the UK, while abroad he takes guests to Ecuador and Madagascar.
A columnist for BBC Wildlife Magazine, Mike has also written eight nature-themed books, with his most recent being One Thousand Shades of Green - A Year in Search of Britain’s Wild Plants.
Nick is an award-winning ceramic sculptor, who gains inspiration from the animal kingdom. The majority of her pieces are based on observations of animals in the field.
Many of her subjects are highly endangered and, in depicting them, she seeks to enlighten the viewer to their beauty, humour and tenderness. She aims to get under the skin of the animal, giving each sculpture its own personality.
Her work is widely exhibited in international collections, and in 2010 she won the Wildlife Artist of the Year Open Category. In 2012 was again a category winner and overall runner-up. Each year she makes the trophies for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. In 2015 she won the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation 2015 Artist of the Year award with her fantastic collection of ceramic warthogs.
Dr. Rebecca Cliffe is a British conservation biologist and leading authority on sloth ecology. She began her work in Costa Rica at age 18 and has since dedicated her career to understanding and protecting wild sloths.
Rebecca holds a PhD in Bioscience from Swansea University and is the founder of The Sloth Conservation Foundation (SloCo), a research-driven nonprofit based in Costa Rica. She pioneered the first long-term field studies of wild sloths, a program that continues to this day. This work now constitutes the most comprehensive dataset on sloth ecology in existence, and continues to guide conservation research, policy and practice.
Her work has informed national wildlife regulations and helped secure new legal protections for sloths. Rebecca received the Future For Nature Award in 2022 and an honorary Doctor of Science in 2024. She has been featured on NBC’s Today Show and 60 Minutes, is the author of Life in the Slow Lane, and inspired the children’s book The Adventures of Dr. Sloth.
For a fitting finale to any trip in Costa Rica, take the scenic flight to the remote beautiful Osa Peninsula, on the Pacific Coast. It is a natural paradise with a remarkable species count. You can stay at either a rustic lodges or a tented camp on an idyllic beach amidst lush tropical splendour, surrounded by wildlife!
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Where: Puntarenas Province
Ideal for viewing: jaguar, scarlet macaw, tamandua, tapir, ocelot
On the Pacific coast, just north of Panama, the wild and remote Osa Peninsula juts into the ocean, combining with Corcovado and Peñas Blancas National Parks to create the country’s foremost natural highlight. It is home to an astonishing range of wildlife, including giant anteater, tapir, squirrel monkey and jaguar.
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Where: Southern Pacific coast
Ideal for viewing: harpy eagle, scarlet macaw, giant anteater, Baird’s tapir, white-faced capuchin monkey
Costa Rica’s vibrant capital stands in the centre of the country at an elevation of around 1,200 metres. Home to the main international airport, it has the country’s pristine natural attractions on its doorstep. The downtown area is fairly small and has several interesting museums and parks.
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This remote luxury lodge, situated on the edge of Corcovado National Park, stands in extensive lowland tropical rainforest where a fascinating variety of wildlife is regularly observed. Access by boat ensures privacy and tranquillity. Guided excursions include birding, forest walks, whale watching and visiting Cano Island.
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Situated in a quiet suburb just north of San José, 25 minutes from the international airport and a mere 15 minutes from the city centre, this pleasant hotel makes a good base for exploring the Central Valley. Its extensive gardens are particularly beautiful and attract a variety of birds and frogs.
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