An excellent place to view wildlife is the Osa Peninsula. We like Bosque del Cabo; they have guides/biology experts on site if you stay there.

http://bosquedelcabo.com/home/index.html is a cool video so you can see what the area is like.

Tortuguero is another neat area, more canal based, and turtles come ashore there to lay their eggs.

Also like the Cano Negro tour near the Arenal area. Sunset Tours is a great group.

You'll also see lots of wildlife in Manuel Antonio, but it's fairly tame due to familiarity with tourists.

If you want to see the cloud forest and quetzals, Monteverde is nice.

Garrigues and Dean is a popular CR birding field guide; so is Stiles and Skutch.

We haven't done it, but a lot of people like to hike in Corcovado as well. You can probably see most of the animals you would see there at Bosque del Cabo or other similar lodge.

Costa Rica is likely to be a bust as far as mammals as most are rodents and bats. Even if you go to Osa, you won't see more than 4 kinds of monkeys (because there are only 4 species in the country not counting "races"). Unless the lodge has semi-habituated cat, you probably won't see one of those, except in a zoo. Chances are no matter where you go, you will see the two sloths, coati mundi, racoon, a squirrel, an agouti and perhaps if lucky one of the anteaters. So your friend did fairly well if he saw 16.

Birding is more rewarding because of the number of endemics and the migratory birds. For birding guides I recommend Marino Chacon at the Savegre Lodge. Also Hacienda Baru has a night in the jungle program and some very good guides (Pedro Porras if you can get him).

http://www.savegre.com/
http://haciendabaru.com/

Thanks you so much for the the replies. I'll follow all those suggestions up.

I still need info on books.

The sea turtles are not a priority for me as I grew up in remote communities in the Gulf and taught on Torres Strait islands. [Gulf = Gulf of Carpentaria]
Alan

PS If I got my guests only 16 mammals in three days of dedicated mammal searching I'd be feeling like giving them a refund. If it was a week, I'd feel like a fraud.

We honestly have not seen a lot of mammals - basically spider, howler, capuchin, and squirrel monkeys, bats, 2-toed and 3-toed sloths, anteaters, racoons, squirrels, coatis, agoutis - pretty much all the same ones that mlgb mentioned. You can see a lot in the way of birds and amphibians and insects if those interest you. Tortuguero has a lot of wildlife other than the turtles. What kinds of mammals are you interested in?

A lot of the less often seen critters are nocturnal weaselly things that hide in burrows. There is a list of mammals of Costa Rica on wikipedia. You can see why it would be a short book unless more people were into mice and bats.

They sell these folding plastic coated Field guides in various hotel gift shops.

Volcanogirl I am interested in the lot. It isn't that I am not interested in turtles, anything which tastes that good can't be all bad (joke) but I know a fair bit about those animals and have some experience of them too.

Lists are not a problem. I am interested in the nocturnal little weaselly things also along with the eight species of Opossums,the ant-eaters and monkeys.

Thanks for all the help so far.

If you want to increase your chances of seeing some nocturnal animals, a lot of places have night hikes. We've seen an opossum and a porcupine doing that. There are also kinkajous. If you hike into Corcovado you might see a tapir. For the most part though you'll end up seeing snakes and frogs. I think the mammals may end up disappointing you.

Corcovado (specifically Sirena station) and La Selva Biological Station/Sarapiqui would be two areas to consider. In two days/nights at Sirena we saw 10 species, including a tapir. We were also within 20 feet of a puma, we later learned.

Night hikes are not allowed inside Corcovado as it is too dangerous.

Going to a rain forest with a numerical goal of mammal species is a recipe for disappointment. It is nature, not a zoo, so nothing is guaranteed.

I am rather curious that you would consider 16 species of mammal to be a failure. Where do you go where such big numbers are expected normally?

He's in Australia. That why 16 sounds low. I haven't seen 16 types of mammals this year.....in 2 years. Here, Tenorio and the Osa combined.If you're looking for mammals forget Central America. If you want birds, insects and reps-amphibs, and especially plants, come on over.
The book you want is by Henderson.
Field guide to the wildlife of Costa Rica.

In La Fortuna, we hired Geovani Bogarin for a hike in a private reserve that he oversees. Our driver (Wilson Rojas, http://www.coatitours.com) arranged it for us. More info about Geovani: http://fortunaguide.blogspot.com/ This link also contains a link to a NYTimes article about him. His phone # is (506) 8626-9348, he does not have an email.

He is a very special man, kind of an iguana whisperer. He really understands the animals and nature, and is truly devoted to it.

You can see some of the weasley things in the zoo in San Jose.
Good botanic gardens also include Lankester near Cartago for native orchids.

I missed seeing some kind of small cat on my way out from Savegre Lodge. Savegre has night camera traps. Apparently they have tapirs as well, we were following tracks thru the plum orchard, so I missed seeing one of those. I think there is a lot of that.

Even the danged frogs are mostly nocturnal, other than the common poison dart ones. I am no good at locating those night frogs even when they are chirping in front of my face.

Yes I am in Australia and most of our mammals are nocturnal or at least crepuscular. I am a guide so it is my job to make sure people see what they have come for. Some people come to my country and don't see any wildlife (except for caged animals and night clubs). that is a disappointment to me but we are not all the same. I won't be spending a lot of time shopping or lazing on the beach.

Thanks for the book recommendation.

Happy to see things in zoos to become a little more familiar with them but it is in the wild that I would prefer to see all the little beasties.

For frogs which are calling it is good to have three or more people and you surround the frog and point at where you think the animal is. This will give you a better chance of overcoming any sound reflections.

Instead I went on a night tour of a frog sanctuary in Manuel Antonio. There was one of the tourists that seemed to be able to find them right away. Thank goodness for him.

If I were you I might write to Jack Ewing at Hacienda Baru. He is dedicated to training up his guides, many grew up in the area. Maybe you can trade some guiding techniques. I went on a hike up to their rainforest shelter one morning and we just missed seeing a peccary.

They also have some species list on the website.

Mammals
http://www.haciendabaru.com/Mammals.htm

I forgot a few others we've seen - otters, a tyra, and peccaries. The tyra was a new one for me; we had to use our wildlife i.d. cards to figure out what it was.

Make that tayra - I think I misspelled it above.

For Corcovado, we used Kenneth Moran who I believe is affiliated with Corcovado Expeditions.

For the Sarapiqui area, the La Selva guides are excellent. Our guide was Lenin, and he was great.

Many thanks.
Alan

Just to brag and also as a follow up to the discussion above I had a ten identified mammal species night yesterday! Two gliders, three rainforest ringtail possum species, large male tree-kangaroo which really put on a show, two species of bandicoot and a melomys. Plus at least three species of micro-bat, four amphibians, a small snake and a Leaf-tailed Gecko. Not bad for a cool wet winter's night.

Good for you.

We have used Andres Alvarado http://forestalive1.blogspot.com/ twice and were very satisfied with his vast knowledge, excellent English and reasonable prices. He lives in Monteverde but can guide also elsewhere.

Another vote for Lenin at La Selva - glad to hear he's still guiding! It's been several years since we were there - and many guides and many places later - many with more years of experience too - but I will NEVER forget how fast Lenin was on those birds. He saw it and bam his scope was on it - it was amazing! He never missed. Young and handsome too. . .

Thanks xelas and glover.

Not sure about hiring a guide better than me (ego problem) and more handsome and younger too! Maybe I should leave my wife at home!

To balance out the skiting above I had a night recently with only three species of possums, no tree-kangaroos and only one species of bandicoot in three hours.

frustrated, I hope you have taken hold of yourself and eased your pain.

AlanJG

Your posts fill a much needed void.