This Beautiful reserve encompasses 1172 hectares of land and 1790 hectares of surrounding ocean and includes the entire southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. The late Karen Morgenson and Nils Olof Wessberg, who arrived here from Sweden in 1950; donated the land to the Costa Rican nation several years before a park system had even been created, and established the reserve in October 1963. Thus it is the oldest protected area in Costa Rica. Until the late 1980s, Cabo Blanco was called an 'absolute' nature reserve because no visitors were permitted. Today, about one-third is accessible along hiking trails, some steep in parts.

The reserve ('white cape'), is named after the vertical-walled island at its tip, which owes its name to the accumulation of guano deposited by seabirds, including Cost Rica's largest community of brown bobbies.

The Cabo Blanco reserve receives more rainfall than other parts of the Nicoya Peninsula, and hence the vegetation is properly described as tropical moist forest. The reserve preserves an evergreen forest, a couple of magnificent beaches, and a host of animals. The most abundant trees are strawberry, apamate, brazilwood, cow tree, capulin, pochote, and sapodilla. There are several km of trails, which are excellent for wildlife observation. Monkeys, squirrels, sloths, deer, agoutis, and raccoons are among the more common sightings -ocelots and margays have also been recorded, but you'd have to be very lucky to see one of these elusive wild cats. Armadillos, porcupines, spotted skunks, gray foxes, coatis, peccaries, snakes, and anteaters are also present.

The coastal area is known as an important nesting site of the brown bobby. Other seabirds in the area include brown pelicans and magnificent frigate birds. The beaches at the tip of the peninsula abound with the usual marine life -starfish, sea anemones, sea urchins, conchs, lobsters, crabs, and tropical fish are a few of the things to look for.

Sendero Sueco trail (about 4.5km) leads from the ranger station south of Cabuya down onto the totally unspoiled white-sand beaches at the tip of the peninsula, which are separated by a headland (you can walk around it at low tide). The hike passes through lush forest before emerging at the coast. A coastal trail, Sendero El Barco, leads west from Playa Balsitas to the western boundary of the park. All have tide pools. Check tide tables with the park rangers before setting off -otherwise you could get stuck.

10km southwest of Montezuma, 55 km south of Paquera. Nicoya Peninsula, Puntarenas

Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday, from 8:00 to 16:00