If you’ve been to Selva Verde Lodge you may well know about the Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center, commonly known as the Learning Center. Perhaps you enjoyed a charla or visit with a local community member at their home during a trip with Road Scholar, or perhaps you planted a tree at a local farm while visiting with your high school.

We are excited to announce that in late August or early September of 2023, Selva Verde Lodge will be inaugurating eight new rooms. The location of these new rooms is near the bridge crossing the Sarapiquí River. This will bring the total number of Sarapiquí rooms to 48.

Left to right: María del Mar Villarreal Zamora, Wilson Huertas and Valery SalasGlobal Big Day (GBD) 2022 was on October 8. For those who aren’t familiar with it, this is a celebration in which large numbers of people across many countries observe as many species as they can in a 24-hour period to give a picture of the current state of bird populations from around the world. This data helps to inform policies and to protect birds in their habitats.

The night of September 9, 2022, during a night hike, our guide Randy Alvarado managed to spot in the primary forest of Selva Verde Lodge a species that is exceptionally hard to find in Costa Rica, a velvet worm (Onicóforo in Spanish). This is one of the oldest living beings in evolutionary terms, as it is known they exist since the Cambrian Period, more than 515 million years ago.

The bird migration has started, and hundreds of species have begun to take flight mainly from North America down to Central and South America. The migration is a movement that birds engage in to seek food, better climate conditions, and even reproduction. Out of the 929 bird species in Costa Rica, approximately 250 are migratory birds. The geographic location of Costa Rica makes the country have a great diversity of flora and fauna, especially avifauna.

A new project of the Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center (CECOS) aims to protect critical habitat for the endangered Great Green Macaw and other wildlife while also providing sustainable income to local residents.

Award-winning nature photographer Krisztina Scheeff led a free photography workshop at the Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center tailored especially for naturalist guides to provide them with the opportunity to learn or improve their photography skills. The workshop was open to all skill levels, with a main focus on wildlife and nature photography, as the growing popularity of nature photography in the travel industry has made it a valuable skill for those working in this tourism specialty.

 Daniel Torres on the brdige to the rainforest

Selva Verde Lodge & Rainforest Reserve is not only a favorite eco-lodge in Costa Rica, it is a core part of Holbrook Travel. That’s why changing the general manager is a big undertaking. It was important to find the right fit in a new leader with both hospitality experience and a deep appreciation for the rainforest ecosystem. With the new general manager, Daniel Torres, just over a month into his new job, we sat down with him and Andrea Holbrook to discuss the transition and future plans.

Selva Verde Lodge & Private Reserve is Cooler than Ever!

 Selva Verde is finishing up the renovation and remodeling of its Sarapiquí Rooms this Fall.

By late October or early November all our Sarapiqui Rooms will be up the same standard – enlarged, lots of high quality double-paned windows with screens, fully air-conditioned with remote control mini-split units, spacious and open.

The Christmas bird count began in 1985. It has an area of 452 square kilometers. In this first count reported 290 species and 5,792 individuals. Central point of the circle whose radius is 12 km., is the Post Magsasay 2.7 km to the south on the Peje River. With the good participation of bird lovers and with A rainy day in the morning and a sunny day in the afternoon are achieved quantify a total of 338 species and 6,613 individuals in the entire counting circle.

“Costa Rica is shaping up to be a pioneer destination for travel recovery”
Andrea Holbrook returned this week from her most recent visit to Sarapiqui. We sat down with her to get her thoughts on Costa Rica travel, the latest at Selva Verde, and what it’s been like to operate an eco-lodge during the pandemic.

Selva Verde Lodge & Private Reserve is widely known for its biodiversity. Home to a large number of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and insects, it is also one of the strategic spots for bird watching in Costa Rica. The reserve boasts a bird count of around 400 species including migratory birds. 

The 2020 Christmas Bird Count in Sarapiqui took place on December 19, 2020.  This local Christmas bird count began in 1985. It has an area of 452 square km. In this first count, 290 species and 5,792 individuals were reported. The central point of the circle, whose radius is 12 km., Is from Magsasay Post, 2.7 km to the South on the Peje River.

If you’ve visited Selva Verde before, you may recognize Iván Castillo, who was our lead naturalist guide for many years. In December, Iván went on to become a guide at the national level, but he recently returned to his home turf to lead a guided virtual hike in support of the Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center.

In this webinar recording, Iván and his cameraman Luis Vega take us on a guided nature walk around the grounds of Selva Verde to learn about some of the region’s flora and fauna and answer viewer questions. You may even hear some Great Green Macaws and spot a frog or two. We hope you enjoy taking this journey with us!

Robert Alison photo

The collared aracari is a small awkward-looking toucan with a prominent enormously-oversized bill. It is fairly common throughout its 500,000 square mile Latin American range, and frequently seen at Selva Verde Lodge, where groups of aracaris often visit bird feeders and forage in local fruiting trees.

All 35 members of the toucan family occur exclusively in the New World tropics. There are 14 species of aracaris, all with slender bodies, richly-colored plumage and banana-shaped hollow bills. None of them are usually found far from forested areas, and most are generally encountered in groups of 6-16 individuals.

Collared aracaris seem to do everything in groups; foraging, loafing and even sleeping together. These birds are among the 16 species of Neotropical birds that have elaborate kinship behavior that includes cooperative care of offspring by non-parents. Research in Costa Rica