Casa Tortuga Location

Casa Tortuga is located on Cape Matapalo at the very tip of the Osa Peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.  At a latitude of only eight degrees above the Equator, Matapalo has a tropical wet climate.  The dry season extends from mid-December through late April, and the rainy season is from May through mid-December.  Temperatures range from 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit year round, and sunshine may be expected even in the rainy season, at least from May through mid-September.  October is the wettest time of the year and except for those that like rain is perhaps the least desireable month of the year to consider a visit.

The Osa Peninsula has long been considered Costa Rica's final frontier.  It is a remote peninsula that until this year did not have a paved road to connect it with the mainland.  Boasting extensive primary rain forest coverage and the location of the nation's largest National Park, Corcovado National Park, the Osa Peninsula plays host to the nation's largest concentration of wild animals with a biodiversity widely quoted by wildlife biologists as being second in the world only to tropical rain forest environments in parts of Borneo and New Guinea.

The Osa Peninsula was the site of a gold rush in the 1980's and the peninsula retains a strong cultural impact from a history intimately linked with the precious metal.  Commercial mining has been banned since the mid-nineties, and the primary economic mainstay of the peninsula is tourism.  Agriculture and ranching are also important to the peninsular economy, with rice and oil palm being the primary agricultural products.