This research centre occupies land abutting the northern reaches of Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo. It is owned and operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies, an international body made up of 50 or so universities that share research facilities. These consist of laboratories, an arboretum wit more than 1,000 tree species, and experimental lots surrounded by 1,500 hectares of virginal premontane rain forest.

Boardwalks provide for easy hiking close to the educational centre, but most of the 61 km of trails can be muddy going. Guided hikes are offered twice daily for call-in visitors, by reservation only. More than 420 bird species have been recorded, as have more than half of all butterfly species in Costa Rica and two-thirds of the nation’s mammal species.