• Costa Rica offers excellent eco tours.Costa Rica Countryside image by oddzen89 from Fotolia.com
  
  Eco tours in Costa Rica offer a way to combine extreme sports with conservation and enjoyment of pristine areas. The terrain ranges from cloud forests and rain forests, to volcanoes and beaches. There are many tour operators and eco lodges offering custom or package tours and eco-friendly accommodations.
  
  

Selvatura Park

• Walkways through the treetops puts birds at eye level in Selvatura Park.Tiger Herons, Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica image by Oren Sarid from Fotolia.com
  
  Selvatura Park is in the Monteverde Cloud Forest region of Costa Rica and offers a variety of eco tours within its boundaries. The park has dedicated 88 percent of its land to preservation and promotes eco tourism on the remaining 12 percent. The three-hour zip line tour takes guests swinging across 15 cables to 18 platforms high in the treetops in an adventure that combines sport with nature. The treetop walking tour is a two hour hike along bridges for a rare view of birds and forest canopy plants and animals. The bridges range between 36 and 180 feet above the ground. Exhibits at the park include a butterfly garden, hummingbird garden, frog and snake herpetarium and an insect museum. Walking tours of the cloud forest with experienced naturalists can also be booked. There is a restaurant in the park.
  
  Selvatura Park
  
  Contiguous to Santa Elena Reserve
  
  Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve
  
  Monteverde 106-5655, Costa Rica
  
  506-2645-5929
  
  selvatura.com
  
  

La Leona Eco Lodge

• Scarlet macaws are commonly seen around the La Leona Eco Lodge.Scarlet Macaw image by wulfpaw from Fotolia.com
  
  La Leona Eco Lodge offers eco-friendly tent cabin accommodations and a variety of tours in the Osa Penninsula. Guests enjoy views of the Pacific Ocean from a forest setting shared with monkeys, birds and other wildlife. Organized tours include a five-hour hike through the Corcovado National Park with an English speaking guide. Hikers can expect to see scarlet macaws, tapirs and sloths among other wildlife. The forest noises and brilliantly colored frogs are highlights of the night tour around the lodge's forest led by an English-speaking guide. The lodge also offers a horseback and kayaking day trip. The morning ride includes secluded beaches and a stop at natural hot pools. Guests enjoy an authentic Costa Rican meal before setting out in kayaks to explore the mangroves and rainforest of the Corcovado National Park.
  
  La Leona Ecolodge.
  
  P.O. Box 47-8203
  
  Puerto Jimenez, Golfito, Corcovado National Park 2388
  
  Costa Rica
  
  (506) 2735-5705 / 2735-5704
  
  laleonaecolodge.com
  
  

3 Monkies Tours

• Sports and nature are combined in eco tours operated by 3 Monkies Tours.Orchid image by Nancy Prelaske from Fotolia.com
  
  3 Monkies Tour company, owned and operated by Costa Ricans, offers sustainable tourism that makes use of small- and mid-size hotels and lodges and knowledgeable local guides to benefit the local population. It is located in the Guanacaste region near the Liberia International Airport. The Guachipelin adventure tour includes a horseback ride to a natural waterfall, tubing down the rapids of the Negro River. The afternoon portion includes zip lines, rappelling, rock climbing and Tarzan swings along the Blanco River Canyon. The tour winds down in the thermal pools at the Guachipelin spa.
  
  3 Monkies Tours
  
  P.O.Box 306-5101
  
  Guanacaste, Costa Rica
  
  888-448-4340
  
  3monkiescr.com