Dave & Dave's Costa Rica Nature Park — Attraction in La Virgen

If you are near the Sarapiqui river, you love nature, and you care about preserving biodiversity (which is increasingly in danger due to human activity), this is the place you don't want to miss. Dave and Dave run a nature preservation project, they plant rare species of trees and bushes and other plants, and provide a bird watching tour to finance their enterprise. They attract birds by sticking pieces of bananas on the branches, but arrange everything in such a way that you have ample opportunities to watch and photograph birds in their natural surroundings, with no traces of human activity. I saw a crazy amount of multi-color birds, including flocks of hummingbirds, which are my favorite. Dave Jr. was with me all the time and gave me a lot of interesting information about the birds. Near the end of the tour he offered me to walk downstairs across the forest to the river to watch poisonous frogs and a beautiful scenery. Also a bottle of cold water, and I sure needed it. I left with about 500 photographs and my hands almost falling off after holding that heavy telephoto lens in my camera. I am very grateful to both Daves for this tour, and I wish them the best of luck with...

A must go place for everybody who wants to experience Costa Rica’s wildlife in their natural habitat and by far the best place for bird photography we’ve been to so far.

Arriving at the park we have been a little bit reluctant to pay the 40$ entrance fee but it was so much worth it. First Dave & Dave took us to their bird watching place where we could take a lot of photos of local birds. Even Toucans came and sat down there and we were able to take some amazing photos of them. After that we were taken to their hummingbird area. The setup was just perfect for picture taking and we were able to get some amazing photos.

Part of the tour also was a smaller hike down to the river where we were able to see those colorful frogs and Dave Junior told us a lot about the local flora and fauna.

All in all we had an amazing time and we will definitely come back to this place the next time we visit...

This is simply an amazing place. The Dave's Sr & Jr are highlighting the natural wonders of the rainforest that we risk losing completely in 50 years. Starting 35 years ago Dave Sr has transformed an old plantation into new rainforest with most of the growth from naturally seeded plants and trees. This ensures the birds, amphibians and mammals on the property are all natural. Our visit with Dave Jr was outstanding, starting on the viewing deck and humming bird garden before trecking through the forest to the river.

We saw and photographed dozens of birds, two types of frogs and even a troop of howler monkeys. Whilst the viewing deck, with plantains put out to attract the birds may not be for the purists, it gives a great opportunity to see birds at very close quarters and makes the conservation message even more potent. Thanks to Dave & Dave for a...