If you had to pick one, two, or maybe three areas of Costa Rica where you would see the MOST wildlife, where would it/they be...? Thanks so very much, Tina

We saw the most wildlife at Tortugaro when we were there 4 years ago. I was told that it's changed a lot though. We also saw a lot of cool stuff on Osa Peninsula this spring. One thing being a huge wolf spider in our room.

You can see lots of wildlife on Osa peninsula, then tour Cano Negro (north of Arenal) for the caymans, birds, lizards, monkeys.

Thank you both for the info and.....not laughing at me! ok, LOL! I just thought of something else. Does anyone happen to know anything about the JAGUARS I used to read about when I first started looking into going to CR? It listed Jags as one of the many animals you can see there. It must be in a very isolated area that they live or that u can see them, I assume. Might be a good thing too cuz as beautiful as they are and as awesome as it would be to see one in the wild, I don't think I'd want to run into one while hiking around the jungle with my family-yikes! Unless they are friendlier in CR, like the locals!

You will not see many jaguars in Costa Rica, but yo will see lots of BMWs. Sorry, I could not resist.

Joking aside, big cat sidings in CR are pretty rare in the main touristy places although a guide bragged about seeing a puma the day before.

Still not laughing!

I vote for the Osa (particularly Bosque del Cabo - which - wasn't there a big cat siting just a few weeks ago? Or something big? Can't remember what it was.), Tortuguero and I don't know! I must say that Manuel Antonio had the most monkeys that I have ever seen. So many choices, it is hard to pick your top 3.

Dario.....I liked that, that was good! Def., got me laughing! Thank you all very much for the great info. I am somewhat disappointed tho cuz I just read that that area (Osa) is VERY hot and humid, even more so than other areas and I am already going to have a really hard time with the h&h as I am super sensitive to it. We live in a dry, mountainous region of California so....I don't know if I can be that brave. :'(

The Osa is hot and humid and I don't think there are many air conditioners or swimming pools, however, it if fabulous and you'll get used to the h/h conditions in a day. As I remember Tortugaro was hot and humid also, no air but at least a swimming pool. We live where it's cold/humid and we all got used to it. We did put the Osa last on our itinarary so that we could get used to the heat first.

Jaguars, hmmm, they are on Osa, but as one researcher who has lived there for a year told us, all depends on luck. You may see them, we did not. We drove to Carate, hiked to Sirena, spent there 2 nights and did not see jaguar. The same researcher told me that one gorup of poele flew to Sirena from Puerto Jimenez for day and during this time they saw: all four species of monkey and jaguar.
We live in mountains of Colorado, so it was a bit hot and humid for us but before we went on our trip to Corcovado park, we stayed 3 days in Hacienda Baru and get a bit of acclimatization. Sure, our hike from Carate to Sirena was not easy but I would do it again. Imagine being woken up by the roar or howler monkey, to be in the middle of jungle, to hear and see macaws, mokeys ...
I would do it again in a heart beat.