Attractions

Frog Garden

Our park is one of the newest and most innovative frog gardens in Costa Rica and in the world.

Eight modules have been specially designed by our team of professionals to exhibit 30 different species of diurnal and nocturnal frogs which inhabit the tropical rainforests. This makes Natura Park the largest frog garden in Costa Rica. The terrariums located inside each module will allow you to discover rare species like the glass frog, which due to its size and coloring is almost impossible to spot in the wild. We have carefully recreated its habitat to make observation possible.

You will also be able to observe one of the most colorful tropical species, the red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas), and interesting poisonous dart frogs like the black and green dart frog (Dendrobates auratus) whose bright colors alert predators to danger.

You will also discover the largest frog species in Costa Rica, the Savage’s thin-toed frog (Leptodactylus savagei) and more interesting species.

Snake Garden

In our Snake Garden, we have recreated the natural habitats of several species of snakes found in Costa Rica, to offer our guests a varied and safe exhibition.

In this area of the park, you will find terrariums in which we have carefully recreated the natural habitat of each serpent to assure their living conditions. You will find species like Fer de Lance (Bothrops asper), the huge Boa Constrictor, the Rainforest Hog Nosed Pit Viper (Portthidium nasutum) and many more that are difficult to find in The wild due to their protective instincts and the danger they can pose.

Throughout the tour, our guests will have a naturalist guide to provide interesting information about each of the species: their ecosystem, food sources, evolution, and natural adaptation.

Turtle Pond

These species, which have had almost no evolutionary changes, have also found their home at Natura Park. A special area has been designed for this long-living species, where they can live exactly as in their natural habitat.

All of our turtles are freshwater species, and among them, you will observe White-Lipped Mud Turtles (Kinosternon leucostomum), Painted Wood Turtles (Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima), Brown Wood Turtles (Rhinoclemmys annulata), Black River Turtles (Rhinoclemmys funeria), and large Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina).

Turtles appeared on the earth some 220 million years ago and it is very interesting that in the last 80 million years they have not evolved, making them the reptiles which have best conserved their natural form.

By nature, they are one of the longest living species, many of which reach over 100 years of age. This attraction is a family-favorite among guests of all ages.

Crocodile Lagoon

In the Crocodile Lagoon, you can observe the giant predator, the crocodile (Crocodylus Acutus), one of the most feared reptiles on earth, due in part to their enormous size, reaching up to five meters (16 feet), and their fierce bite of around 1750 kgs (3,858 lbs) of pressure.

You will also find the caiman (Caiman Crocodilus) which are abundant along the banks of rivers, lagoons, and near backwater populations. This carnivorous animal lays absolutely silent, poking only their eyes out, watching the movements of their possible prey to attack at just the right time.

See if you can snap a photo of these exclusive creatures on a Photography Tour.

Heliconias Garden

Discover the beauty of the garden with a Day Pass to Natura Park.

The beauty of these plants, characterized by long leaves and large bright flowers, will accompany you throughout your visit to our beautiful garden.

The colorful bracts are the most eye-catching part of the heliconias and are usually primary or mixed colors.

You may also see hummingbirds, which are among the pollinators of these exotic tropical plants in shades of red, yellow, pink, and orange.

Natural Trails

You can enjoy a hike through our lush green tropical rainforest and natural reserve, filled with biodiversity. This is a secondary rainforest in regeneration and has become an important habitat for native and migratory animals. As you walk, you will discover tall trees, streams, and a large variety of ecosystems in unimaginable places, allowing you to observe and understand the importance and the true splendor of the natural world that surrounds us.

Our natural trails receive constant maintenance and are mostly flat, and mud-free (depending on weather conditions), making this an easy and enjoyable walk, accessible to guests of all ages.

Leaf Cutter Ants

Along the trails and areas of Arenal Natura Park a large group of leaf cutter ants (Atta cephalotes) works tireless day and night. Our guides will point them out and explain how this interesting group is organized.

These tiny insects play a very important role in the rainforest ecosystem, because they eliminate 80% of the leaf coverage, regulating the accumulation of dead leaves on the ground and permitting sunlight to pass through the forest.

Come see these tiny hard workers, you won’t believe just how incredible they are!

Orchid Garden

The Orchid family (Orchidaceae) is one of the most numerous plant families in the world with close to 20,000 species (Dressler 2003). In Costa Rica, this condition has no exception; in this country, between 1,300 and 1,400 species of this family make their home.

Orchids are herbaceous plants with perennial habits (rarely annual), terrestrial, epiphytic (they grow on another plants or tree but they are not parasitic) or lithophytes (they grow on rocks), occasionally climbing, sometimes saprophytic (they eat wastes from other organisms) and, rarely, mycoheterotrophs (which require a fungus for photosynthesis).

Epiphytic orchids can reportedly become eternal. In fact, in the wild, their life span is directly dependent on the life of the tree that sustains them. Some plants that were collected in the mid-nineteenth century are still growing and flourishing in many known collections.