In search of a trekking partner/group for Corcovado end of April/start of May..

Just keep in mind Corcovado is a lot of effort to just reach the area, its 10-11 hours from San Jose by car/bus, to Pt Jimenez, where you would base for the Loop hike. You need at least 4 nights there minimum, and then add the travel day to and from, and you are at 6 days minimum.

There is excellent hiking and nature on the caribe side, in Tortuguero Canals and Rainforest NP, Bruallio NP, Cahuita NP, and in Central Valley, Rincon NP and Tenerio NP or Orosi Valley/Tapanti NP, all much easier to access and reservations/permits and all day guides guides required.

Don't get me wrong, I have hiked Corcovado 3 times, from 3 sides over the years, and its raw beautiful jungle and beaches for sure, but its a pain to get to...consider Drake Bay if long hikes for 7 hours sounds too much.

You might want to head directly to Puerto Jimenez, maybe even fly 1 way to get there fast. If you can spend a few days hanging around, checking out hostel's and other motels, travel agents etc. you can probably find some other travelers looking to share costs.

http://www.natureair.com/

Unfortunately you won't save that much if you find people to join you. The only thing that goes down a bit is the guide rate. In 2015 the entrance was $15 per person per day. And we had to pay the entrance for the guide as well: $3 per day. Lodging was $8 per person per night in the dorm and $4 per person per night in a tent (we chose the tent). Meals are expensive so we took our own food. The guide rate was $60 per person per day and that went down to $55 per person with 3 people and $50 per person with 4 people. The transport was $9 per person one way (and I think we had to pay for the guide as well). We ended up paying $500 for the two of us. That was for Carate-Sirena-Carate. Los Patos-Sirena-Carate was more expensive. You should still try to find others to join you as I think it will be hard to find a guide who wants to take just you. You can try Osa Wild or Surcos Tours or ask your hotel. Don't wait too long to book as the park does get sold out. They are also renovating the dorm at Sirena (that started at the end of last year) and there were only camping spots available and so less permits were being given out. The advice was to book a month in advance. I am not sure if the renovations are done. I don't think they are.

In Cabo Matapalo there are lodges that have extensive trails and where you would see lots of wildlife as well but most of those are expensive too. I don't know of any budget lodging there. We stayed at Jungle Hostel Bolita in Dos Brazos de Rio Tigre. It is in the middle of the jungle (you have to hike 30 minutes and wade through a river to get there). They have amazing trails. You could hike for two days there to a viewpoint, a valley, waterfalls and right through a jungle river. It is remote and rugged and we did see quite a lot of wildlife but for more wildlife I would recommend at least a day trip to Cabo Matapalo if you ended up not doing the three day trek.

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