Tortuguero National Park

Tortuguero National Park, on Costa Rica's northeastern Caribbean coast in Limon Province, is reachable only by boat or small aircraft yet is the third most visited park in the country, protecting about 312 square kilometers set aside in 1975. Its eleven distinct habitats, including rainforest, mangrove, swamp, beach and lagoon, receive as much as 6,400 millimeters of rain a year, and its beaches are a critical nesting ground for four species of sea turtle: hawksbill, loggerhead, green and leatherback. The park was recognized in 1996 as Ramsar wetland site 811, known locally as Humedal Caribe Noreste, and it forms a biological corridor with Nicaragua's neighboring Indio Maiz Biological Reserve.