Surcos Tours is a tourist service company founded and run by the Paniagua Castro family. We opened in February 2008.  our office is located two blocks below te Banco Nacional in San Vito. On the same side of the street.

Why did we start Surcos Tours
Surcos Tours was born to meet a growing demand by local and international tourists for information on activities and real estate services in the area.  At Surcos Tours we are acutely aware that well-planned growth and tourism will benefit Coto Brus’ economy as well as provide funds to be invested back into natural resources. Our mission is one of sharing the natural beauty around us while giving back to ensure that generations to come may also have this opportunity. We are also dedicated to working with both government and private organizations to create a growth and management plan that leads to the best in responsible tourism.

Ours Objectives

Stimulate Coto Brus’ economy
We seek to stimulate the economy of Coto Brus though developing local tourism. An increase in tourism will attract more people, bringing more business and creating more jobs.

Motivate Coto Brus residents to discover Costa Rica
We live in one of the most biologically diverse countries on the planet, with one of the best National Park Systems in Latin America, and Costa Ricans rarely take advantage of it. We want to motivate residents to discover and appreciate their surroundings and commit to informed stewardship of the environment.

Working for sustainable Tourism
It is no secret that tourism has gotten out of the government’s control and that, though originally it benefited some of our towns enormously, tourism – and the sheer numbers of people it brings – has turned into one of the leading causes of environmental contamination and has even brought a serious of social ills.

Coto Brus, fortunately, does not have this tourism problem, which unfortunately plagues most of the rest of the country.

We are dedicated to working with both government and private organizations to create a growth and management plan that leads to the best in responsible tourism.

Creating environmental Awareness
Unfortunately for Coto Brus, reforms created to protect the rain forest arrived too late. Most of our premontane and montane original forests (classification in Leslie Holdridge’s “life zones”) were cleared during the 70’s and 80’ with the blessing of the government to create more farmland, jobs, and productivity.

Many mammal populations disappeared with the disappearance of this habitat, bus still a great number of birds, insects, amphibians, reptiles and small mammals have adapted to a life in the patches of forest that remain.  We actively support reforestation and conservation efforts to best protect primary forest habitat and water sources.

Protecting Migratory Bird Habitat
Around 200 species of birds which reproduce in the temperate climate of the U.S. and Canada spend the winter in tropical countries, remaining for about 6 months before returning north. Loss of rain forest from human activity has reduced the population of migratory birds at an alarming scale.  We stress to the people of Coto Brus how blessed  we are to host so many of these little travelers, who spend half their lives here and bring so much joy. If urgent measures are not taken to restore primary forest, we will lose them forever.

Promoting environmental education in the Schools
We at Surcos Tours are convinced that the only way to effect real change in people is through education.  To the end, we are working with government entities such as MINAE and the local government to implement an environmental education program in elementary and high schools throughout the zone.

Other projects
Promoting a culture of recycling
Working with coffee growers and others to minimize the use of pesticides
Program to certify organic farms

Our Guides
Dionisio “Nito” Paniagua

Since he was a child Nito knew that his passion is the nature around him in his hometown San Vito. Very early he developed an interest in studying ants. After high school he graduated with a Bachelor degree in Tourism specialised in Group Tours. After finishing university he started studying birds and later became an experienced bird watcher.

For many years he worked as a guide at Lapa Rios, an upscale eco lodge on the Osa Peninsula with a focus on eco tourism and sustainable tourism. Today Nito runs a tour operator company together with his family in San Vito as well as on the Osa Peninsula and works as a freelance guide mainly in Corcovado National Park. He constantly intensifies his knowledge about birds and gets more and more specialised and passionate about them. Several bird watching trips to other countries amplified his general knowledge about birds.  

Jeisson Figueroa Sandi was born in the southern region of Costa Rica, in San Vito, a town colonized by Italians. Even as a young boy, nature held a great interest to him. The advantage of living near Las Cruces Biological Station which also includes the Wilson Botanical Garden, provided Jeisson with an unparalleled opportunity to nurture and increase his knowledge of nature, which in turn would become a life-long passion.

In 1998 when Jeisson was 17 years old, he obtained his first research job at Las Cruces Station working with Cornell University herpetologist Martin Slafher. That research job was followed by another in 2000, this time working with Cornell University student, Fred Werner, on his ornithology project and it was during this research project that Jeisson developed an avid interest in birds.

That same year, he also began working with a Stanford University researcher, Cagan Hakki Sckersioglu, on a long-term research project (still on-going), where Jeisson has become one of its principal collaborators. This research project involves studies on insects, plants, bats, climate change, etc., but its main objective has always been bird monitoring with the use of mist nets and radio-telemetry.  

Thanks to the fact that these research projects are seasonal, Jeisson has had the opportunity to work with other universities and institutions (University of Georgia, University of California, University of Costa Rica and the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) among others) as well as working in Costa Rica's indigenous reserves, with the Guaimi and Bribri people. In Peninsula de Osa, San Vito and central Pacific Costa Rica, Jeisson has also worked as a nature tour guide.

Jeisson received his primary school education in a small town in the area of San Vito, where his classmates never numbered more than six from the time they initiated grade school until they had completed it, six years later. Because of his economic situation, Jeisson was not able to continue on to the equivalent of high school until he found a job with which to finance his studies. Once this was achieved, he was able to enter night school and finish his secondary education. Jeisson continues to fund his own education by means of his work and is currently attending University.

Treat yourself to an unforgettable experience. Jeisson is fully committed to offering his best and will happily share his knowledge, along with his exhilarating (and contagious!) passion for nature.