The Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve is at the extreme southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula in the Puntarenas province in Costa Rica. With its unique combination of climate and geographical location, it is among the most beautiful nature reserves in Costa Rica.

Cabo Blanco was the first protected area or National Park/Reserve in the country. It was founded in 1963 by the Swedish immigrant Nils Olof Wessberg and his wife Karen Morgenson who donated the area to Costa Rica. It was a “Reserva Absoluta” which means that no people other than park rangers were allowed inside, which gave the park over 40 years to grow back.

The Cabo Blanco Park is a good example that forests can be regenerated if efforts toward conservation are pursued. Most of the park is secondary growth, and was seeded by birds, bats, and other natural means, although early conservationists in the Montezuma area also planted thousands of trees in the park to help it re-grow. Now, it's a fully regenerated secondary forest full of huge native trees of all species and abundant wildlife.

Most of the park is still protected, but there are several trails for visitors including a trail to the remote beach of Playa Cabo Blanco. One can park at the visitor's entrance, which is south of Cabuya. It takes about two hours to get to the Cabo Blanco beach on the trail. There's also a small loop trail that you can take, which crosses some streams.

The park extends for 1250 hectares. About 2 km (1.2 miles) from the reserve's southern tip lies the Isla Cabo Blanco. It is known as the "White Cape" because encrusted bird droppings covers the rocks in dry season. This sea bird sanctuary that is off limits for visitors is inhabited by large numbers of brown pelicans, frigate birds, laughing gulls, common terns and brown bobbies.The island has the greatest colony of Brown Bobby birds in Central America, and also maintains the largest population of pelicans in the Nicoya Peninsula.

About 140 different species of trees have been identified inside the park. Due to the fact that the park is located in a transition area between the dry and wet forest, there is a combination of evergreen trees (that never loose their leaves) which are characteristic of the humid rainforest, and trees of the deciduous type (which loose their leaves during the dry season) and are characteristic of the dry forest.

Among the most common trees are lance wood, bastard cedar, wild plum, gumbo-limbo, trumpet tree, dogwood, frangipani, sapoditta (famous for producing the material that is used to make chewing gum) and spiny cedar. One of the spiny cedars in the park towers 50 meters (164 feet) and measures 3 meters (9.8 feet) in diameter.

There is a considerable variety of mammals in the park. The forest is home to a large variety of animals like the white-tailed deer, pacas, armadillos, anteaters, howler, spider and capuchin monkeys, collared peccary, coyotes, porcupines, raccoons and coatis. You can also sometimes find ocelots, jaguarundis or margay cats.

Among the many birds are magpie jay, motmot, long-tailed manakin, cattle egret, crested caracara, elegant trogon, white bellied chachalaca, ringed kingfisher and sulphur-winged parakeet.

The reserve also protects all the marine life around its shoreline and around the island of Cabo Blanco which extends 1 km. (.62 miles) out from its entire shoreline (1,800 additional hectares of marine area). There are abundant marine birds, fish, crabs and mollusks found in the shore waters and in the Cabo Blanco island.

The park offers its visitors a visitors´ center, restrooms, rest and lunch areas, parking areas, drinking water and trash disposal. There is no place to purchase food, so visitors should bring their own food and water with them to the park.

Cabuya is the gateway to this great natural reserve. This small community borders the main entrance to the park. Cabuya is great base for hiking, hanging on the beach and bird watching. The hotels offer warm hospitality, personal service, a friendly atmosphere and a great value. Their location is convenient for visiting not only Cabo Blanco, but also nearby Montezuma and Mal Pais.

To get there from San Jose, take the main road (Panamerican) to Puntarenas where you catch the ferry to Paquera. The crossing takes about an hour and the views are spectacular. From here follow the signs to Tambor, Cobano, Montezuma and on to Cabuya.

The Northwest Pacific is one of the driest climates in Costa Rica. The beach areas have a fairly steady year round temperature with daytime highs averaging in the upper 80s to lower 90s. Night time lows are usually in the upper 70s. Precipitation varies through the year with the nicest weather between November and August.

Cabo Blanco Nature reserve is a laid back park for those seeking adventure off the beaten path.