Eco Tips
Whether you are traveling in Costa Rica or in any other natural area in the world, please keep in mind the following suggestions, in order to diminish your impact on fragile environments.
As a responsible tourist you should:
- Enjoy nature but don't chase or touch wild animals
- Leave everything, as you found it, don't remove anything that is part of natural environment such as rocks, shells or plants.
- Stay on the trails; trails are designed to lessen the erosion caused by the transit of visitors.
- Encourage responsible behavior on the part of your group and others.
- Report environmental damage to authorities.
- Participate in local conservation activities.
Please, don't feed the wildlife:
- Wildlife can be susceptible to human diseases. They can actually die from bacteria transferred from you, which have no ill effect on humans.
- Irregular feeding leads to an aggressive behavior towards humans and other species.
- When we feed an animal, we are actually affecting its` natural diet. Fruits, especially those containing pesticides, can upset their digestive system or cause dental problems that can lead to death.
- Feeding creates a dangerous dependency on humans that diminishes the wildlife’s survival capabilities.
- Feeding interferes with the wildlife’s natural habits and upsets the balance of their lifestyles.
- Contact with humans facilitates poaching and the trade in illegal wildlife and makes them an easy target for hunters.
- Please, help us spread the word, be an ecotourist by explaining to your fellow companions.
- Please let nature take its own course!
Coral Etiquette:
- Whether you swim, snorkel, scuba, or freedive; please help protect our reefs.
- Corals are colonies of very small animals which may take hundreds of years to form the structures visible today. Simply touching corals to see what they feel like can cause the death of an entire colony.
- Don't walk upon or stand on coral, as this can kill the living coral polyps that are the builders of the reef structure.
- If a diver, practice buoyancy control skills before diving on any sensitive environment.
- Make sure you are not dragging your gauges.
- Don't touch, pickup or hold reef inhabitants, and never pull octopus from their habitats.
Whale Etiquette:
Taking the following precautions and respectful steps will assure that whale-watching can continue for future generations. .
When approaching whales in an area, stay visible by approaching from the side, not from the front or rear
Keep a safe distance of at least 100 meters from the whales
Move at the same speed and in the same direction as the whales, and avoid sudden changes of speed and direction.
Keep the noise level down and spend no more than 30 minutes at a time within the whales' range. Finally, be considerate to other whale-watchers.
<Back to guide
