La Perica (Bird Garden)

La Perica is the local name for a sloth, but it is also the name of one the best places we have to offer to view and study sloths in the peninsula, due to the forest being surrounded by fields for cattle or palm trees this keeps the forest isolated like an oasis in a desert so to speak, with the baren terrain surrounding the property its make it very difficult for sloths to leave because, to avoid predators they travel from tree branch to tree branch, but the ground is very dangerous for them due to snakes, wild ocelots or caimans .

History

Sadly, in the past this beautiful forest was not so abundant in flora and fauna due to the deforestation done to make more fields for cattle and the animals being hunted. But one day the owner, Antonio, decided that it is worth protecting nature and its inhabitants, cause without them there’s nothing.

So with this change he stopped hunting and started planting trees again. After a couple of years of fixing the damage that was done, his wife who was elderly at this time wanted to see the forest for herself and with that her children and grandchildren decided to make trails and benches for her grandma to enjoy the forest threw walks, and one day as she was looking at the canopy she spotted a Perica (sloth) she was surprise, and one after another more and more sloth started appearing to an estimated of 25 sloths living in their forest of both the 2 claw and 3 claw sloths.

But not only that, birds also start appearing all around, all sorts of creatures returned different types of ants, snakes, birds, cold-blooded creatures, plants and more.

Recommendation

Over all this is a very nice and easy tour to do especially with your family or friends from the beautiful forest to the animals you’ll encounter, The tour takes between 1–2 hours to complete depending on how long you want to be on the trail, and once your walk is done you will be given local refreshments and food, which would be cheese empanadas, fruits, and natural refreshments.

There is a place to sit down and enjoy your meal and have a chance to make some freshly crushed sugar cane water with lemon, and maybe buy a souvenir which is made by locals, and it greatly helps them when you purchase and prolong the local business that is made of passion for nature.

Location
La Palma, Pto. Jiménez, Golfito, Puntarenas, Costa Rica