Las Cruces Biological Station & Wilson Botanical Garden

Overview

Description

Enjoy Costa Rica’s most important botanical garden and the richest, most renowned plant collection in Central America in the enchanting and remote San Vito area in Costa Rica’s southern zone. This biological station is home to the Wilson Botanic Garden, which features beautifully diverse tropical and sub-tropical plants, representatives of unusual plant families of Costa Rica and other sites, and rare and endangered species. The botanic garden also exhibits important collections of ferns, bromeliads, gingers, heliconias, aroids, marantas, alocasias, and palms. More than 1,000 genera in 212 plant families can be seen along the trails that wind over the palm-covered hillsides, through beds of irises and agaves under the forest canopy, in heliconia and banana groves, or in strategic views of the fields. Today the Station has the Las Cruces Digital Herbarium database where you can find approximately 150 species of plants.

The Wilson Botanical Garden is part of the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve that encompasses 1,165,840 acres (472,000 hectares) of protected area and buffer zones in the middle of the southern Talamanca mountain range in Costa Rica's south Pacific region. Observe the richness of the tropics: native plants and animals, including nearly 400 bird species, more than 800 types of butterflies, an abundance of mammals (at least 38 species of bats), and an impressive diversity of reptiles and amphibians.

The Station serves as the principal center in the region for instruction, research, and on-site environmental education, as well as a place for visitors to have a unique opportunity to experience tropical nature and learn about it in a place where scientists and students from around the world come to research and study.

Making a Difference

Number of employees: 31

Percentage of local employees: 95%

In Las Cruces, some of the benefits provided are:

• We have a “Blue Flag” designation.
• We hire local staff.
• We offer environmental education to the local schools.
• We promote voluntary work in the community.
• We buy from local providers.
• We provide services to other hotels and members of the tourism sector.
• We promote and support nature conservation: OTS has been working for more than 40 years to conserve the tropics and biodiversity in Costa Rica; established in 1953, Las Cruces was one of the first private protected areas in the nation.

The scientific contributions made by the OTS and its different stations have helped strengthen knowledge about the natural history of Costa Rica and are an integral part of a national effort to preserve biodiversity. Examples of these include the renowned book on Costa Rica's Natural History by Daniel Janzen; La Selva Ecology and Natural History of a Neotropical Rain Forest by Lucinda McDade, Kamalit Bawa, Henrey Hespenheide, and Gary Hartshorn; a recently published book on the Amphibians and Reptiles of La Selva, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean Slope by Craig Guyer and Maureen Donnelly; and more than 2,655 scientific publications.

Rates

$76 – 100

• Single occupancy: $89.
• Double occupancy: $84.
• Additional person: $62.
• Children 5 to 12 years old: $27.

Prices are in US dollars, per person, and include lodging, sales tax, three meals, and a two-hour hike.

For more information about rates, please visit:

• www.threepaths.co.cr/lascruces_rates.shtml (available in English).

Getting There

Nearest international airport: San José (SJO)

Nearest local/national airport: Golfito (GLF)

Travel time to nearest airport: 45 mintutes

We are 178 miles from San Jose (4.5 hours) in San Vito de Cotobrus.

Additional Information

OTS is a non-profit consortium that includes around 65 universities and research institutions around the world. It was founded in 1963 to provide leadership in education, research, and the responsible use of natural resources in the tropics. To address this mission, OTS conducts graduate and undergraduate education programs, facilitates research, actively participates in tropical forest conservation, and manages three biological stations in Costa Rica: La Selva, Las Cruces, and Palo Verde.

OTS and ecotourism: Promoting and supporting a scientific and environmental consciousness, with more than 10,000 ecotourists visiting our three biological stations in Costa Rica, OTS helps to ensure that visitors have a high-quality experience and learn about the amazing natural history of the tropical forest and its flora and fauna through activities such as: guided natural history walks, bird-watching, night tours, short-term projects and hands-on science activities, volunteer projects, river boat tours, lectures, and more. These activities are just part of the experiential learning that our biological stations can offer, which fulfills the mission of enhancing the appreciation of nature and ecology, the understanding of need for preservation and the support of conservation measures.

Through ecotourism, OTS hopes to provide benefits the local communities; this has been accomplished from the moment the OTS bought the three stations.

Files

• Rates 2013
• Tarifas para nacionales - 2013 - Rates for national tourists - 2013 (available in Spanish).

Date This Information Was Provided

May 2012.

Photos courtesy of Las Cruces Biological Station & Wilson Botanical Garden, Costa Rica, for SustainableTrip.org.