If you want to visit Corcovado National Park now it must be with a local guide expert accredited by the office of the protected area. As the Osa Peninsula Conservation Area informed, this measure entered into force in February 1st.
“By its topography, scenic beauty, extreme adventure and degree of difficulty, its trails are class category five, according to the manual of typology and people require the accompaniment of a guide during their tour,” said Etilma Morales, director of ACOSA.
Thereby this new policy ensures respect for the ecological, geomorphological and aesthetic characteristics of the area. It was created in order to offer a better experience to the visitors and avoid some inconvenient when most of them don’t know the trails due to the level of difficulty of Corcovado, the park is in the category for experts, both land accesses (Sirena and Patos). Actually, last year 2 Spanish tourists got lost in the park, so the couple spent the whole night in the forest, outdoors, without any type of feeding, returning for their own the following day, these situations happen because they didn’t have any guidance.
The local guides and nationals wishing to enter to perform the activity of guidance must be accredited by the Office of Tourism of the Corcovado National Park, providing the local guide booklet duly accredited by the ICT and demonstrating that it is associated to any guild of guides based in the region, duly legalized or submit an affidavit stating the guided experience of people within the Corcovado National Park.
The guides are going to be responsible for the tourist’s behavior into the park; here are some rules that the press release mentioned as the conducts that aren’t allowed: Travel outside the trails or areas for public use, disrespecting the signs, notices, existing fences, maintain in high volume or make scandal with radios, megaphones or any equipment and instrument of sound that might disturb to the animals in their natural habitat, other tourists and other guides.
Article by Gabriel Garcia
