This national park, the fist to be established in Costa Rica, boasts an abundance of human and natural history. Sea-girt on two sides, Santa Rosa is framed by fine beaches washed by rugged surf. Good camping facilities help make this one of the country’s most appealing wild-land attractions.

Its 49,512 hectares enfold 10 distinct habitats, home to about 115 mammal species and more than 250 species of birds – all easily seen amid the predominant landscape of dry deciduous forest, where anteaters, iguanas, deer, and howler, spider and white-faced monkeys are preyed upon by five species of cats, including rarely seen jaguars.

The park is divided into two separate sections. To the south is the larger Santa Rosa sector, where armoured vehicles rust amid tall grasslands west of the entrance gate in memory of an ill fated invasion by Nicaraguan troops in 1955.

The Naked Indian Trail, named for the gumbo limbo trees whose peeling bark exposes a red trunk, makes an easy loop; the Los Patos trail is good for spotting rare mammals.