| Eco tourism in Costa Rica can take many forms, is | | | | internationally identified expert on cacao cultivation and |
| enjoyed or experienced in different ways, affects | | | | rain forests. |
| visitors in various ways, and produces different | | | | Dr. Young, and others like him who've worked from |
| societal consequences-some obvious, some not. | | | | the Center over the last 50 years, are "research eco |
| And, indeed, the very word "eco tourism" brings | | | | tourists." Their professional curiosity and work on rain |
| different images to mind in different people. | | | | forests have proved invaluable to understanding the |
| For some, Costa Rica eco tourism brings to mind | | | | ecosystems of tropical climes. |
| enjoying the country's extraordinary biological diversity. | | | | Tirimbina proved fascinating not merely to Dr. Young |
| Hence, it's appropriate to label the kinds of ecotourists | | | | but to the Milwaukee Public Museum itself which, in |
| traveling this country. | | | | 1986, designed a permanent exhibit on the tropical |
| Only about as big as little West Virginia, comprising | | | | rainforest, called "Exploring Life on Earth." Over the |
| about 1/10,000 of the globe's land surface, nearly one | | | | following years hundreds of thousands of museum |
| of every twenty species of plant and animal in the | | | | visitors have viewed the Tirimbina exhibit as "virtual |
| world is found in Costa Rica. | | | | eco tourists" whose awareness of the |
| There are actually more kinds of butterflies in tiny | | | | importance--and fragility-of rain forests have |
| Costa Rica than on the whole continent of Africa. | | | | contributed to conservation efforts. |
| And,almost as many types of birds have been | | | | Indeed, the Museum eventually bought the Tirimbina |
| observed in its forests and lands as in the continental | | | | Rainforest Center and maintained it until 2006 when it |
| United States. | | | | was sold to a Milwaukee nonprofit called the Pura |
| The world's largest Green Sea Turtle preserve is off | | | | Vida Foundation. More recently, the Center was |
| the Caribbean Coast at Tortuguero Park. Sometimes | | | | transferred to a Costa Rica nonprofit organization, the |
| tens of thousands of female turtles come ashore to | | | | Asociacion Tirimbina Para La Conservacion, |
| nest on the deserted beaches. | | | | Investigacion y Educacion. |
| 35% of the world's species of cetaceans (porpoises | | | | If you are an eco tourist or interested in real-deal |
| and whales) are found in its offshore waters---and | | | | Costa Rica ecotourism, we recommend going to the |
| humpback whales from Antarctica travel north to | | | | Tirimbina Rainforest Center if you're: |
| Costa Rica while humpback whales from the Arctic | | | | (a) A "research eco tourist." This is a working rain |
| travel south to the same waters. | | | | forest research center and for 30 years has been |
| Remote Corcovado Park, just 20 miles long and 8 | | | | used for doctorate research, graduate studies, and |
| miles wide, has been called "the most biologically | | | | museum related work; |
| intense place" on the planet by National Geographic. | | | | (b) An undergraduate looking for a one-of-a kind study |
| Folks who pay a visit to Costa Rica for any of these | | | | abroad opportunity. |
| things are best described as "vacation eco tourists." | | | | Ball State University of Indianapolis recently announced |
| However, eco tourism in this tropical land is more | | | | a new Study Abroad in Costa Rica program at |
| diverse than bird watching, taking a photography tour, | | | | Tirimbina Rainforest Center, starting Spring Semester |
| or hiking jungle trails to lovely waterfalls-which brings us | | | | 2010. This program is modeled after two very popular |
| to an internationally acknowledged but little known and | | | | study abroad programs in Australia and England. If this |
| relatively little visited place known as the Tirimbina | | | | is for you, you will be a "student eco tourist"; or |
| Rainforest Center. | | | | (c) Simply curious about visiting a working tropical |
| The Tirimbina Rainforest Center sits on about 345 | | | | forest research center that also hosts family things to |
| hectares (850 acres) of primary rainforest. "Primary | | | | do and educational projects like hiking through primary |
| rainforest" is the original, never logged, jungle that | | | | rain forest on several miles of trails; a bird tour; a frog |
| blanketed 99% of Central America when Christopher | | | | tour; a bat tour; even a chocolate tour. |
| Columbus visited its Caribbean shoreline and | | | | Additionally there is an aerial tram tour, boat tour, and a |
| discovered (and named) Costa Rica in 1503. | | | | truly remarkable number of optional activities. Visit the |
| In the following centuries, widespread logging and | | | | Tirimbina web page for a list of the activities and |
| burning to make more agricultural areas decimated | | | | become "family eco tourists." |
| primary forests and only only a small portion of this | | | | There's a restaurant and accomodations on site for |
| valuable resource still exists. | | | | people who wish to stay overnight or for several days. |
| The Center's history goes back to 1960 when an | | | | Though it has been known by the scientific community |
| American, Robert Hunter, traveled to Costa Rica to | | | | for more than five decades, Tirimbina Rainforest |
| work for the Inter-American Institute for Science and | | | | Center is visited by only about 8,000 Costa Rica eco |
| Agriculture and bought the land now occupied by the | | | | tourists annually. Until now, its existence has been |
| Center. He invited American researchers to the | | | | virtually unknown as a tourist destination, but no more. |
| property, one of whom was Dr. Allen Young of the | | | | If you are planning a Costa Rica vacation, give this |
| Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Public Museum, and an | | | | place serious consideration. |