Day 15: A visit to Osa Conservation and a very wet detour

 March 17

What did we do?

I had been following Osa Conservation on Instagram for about a year and their flora and fauna posts whet my appetite for a visit to the Piro Biological Station. Founded in 2003, Osa Conservation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the biodiversity of the Osa Peninsula. We paid $15 to visit the Station and walk the trails. 

Osa Conservation has a few locations on Google maps so make sure you go to the Piro Biological Station; initially, we drove up to the wrong location and encountered heavy rain on a very narrow and gravel steep road (see the video below). 

After backtracking to route 245 we easily found the right location and it was an enjoyable morning hiking through both primary and secondary forest trails. We saw many birds and a few monkeys, and despite my best efforts scoping the creek beds for snakes with my binoculars, we didn’t see any. 

They’ve recently built a 30m high canopy tower that you can climb for an extra $30. The cafeteria there sells cold drinks and ice-cream, but meals are for Osa Conservation residents only.

Where did we eat?

In the evening we drove about 10 minutes down Route 245 to the Friday night market at Beuna Esperenza. We ate an expensive dinner here, and our group had mixed reviews about their meal choices, but we all agreed that the homemade ice cream we bought from one of the market vendors was delicious.

Just as we realized we were on the wrong road it started raining heavily

Piro Biological Station Hike

Reception building at Piro