Drake Bay / Peninsula de la Osa /Costa Rica

Characteristics:

Drake Bay is a region located in the northwest of the Peninsula de Osa at the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. It is inside the Surface Conservation Area Osa (ACOSA) in the province Puntarenas, canton Osa, district Sierpe.
The Peninsula de Osa harbours the last remaining parts of the tropical rain forest on the slopes of the Pacific Coast in Central America.
This region is close to and influenced by the Corcovado National Park, considered to be one of the most important areas for preservation due to its enormous ecological wealth.

History:

The area was given its name by Sir Francis Drake. Nowadays there exist indicators that in recent pre-Hispanic times the surface area was inhabited by indigenous groups that probably were attracted by the abundant hunting and fishing wealth.

Important Places:

The National Park Corcovado is home to a great quantity of various plants and animals including 139 species of mammals.
The highest population of scarlet macaws in Central America are living inside the park as well as a healthy population of jaguars, ocelots and dantas that are also known as tapirs. In its marine part there still are amazing coral reefs (Cortes & Jimenez 1996).
These ecosystems constitute a unique reservoir of biodiversity for adjacent areas as one of the main sources of larvas, juveniles and adults of many species - mainly those that have been eliminated already due to commercial interests on the rest of the coast (Cortes & Jimenez 1996).

In the Humedal Terraba Sierpe, declared place by RAMSAR in 1995 you find the biggest swamp/mangrove forest/area of CR, constituting 42.8% of the national surface of swamp/mangrove (Cordero & Solano 2000). This swamp/ these mangroves are considered to be among the most complex ones that can be found within the neo-tropical region. Its abundance of epiphytes plants and climbers is probably due to the characteristic high precipitation in that area (TNC, 2003).

The Estero Ganado (8°45´ N, 83°37´W) is an ecosystem located at the mouth of the river Sierpe - including another sector called Humedal Estuarine Terraba-serpent (Cordero & Solano 2000). This area possesses a 60 ha swamp extension that is partially protected. The institution in charge of this area is MINAE (Inventory of humedals MINAE/SINAC - UICN/ORMA, 1998).
The Caño Island Biological Reservation was declared in 1976 (source SINAC). It is surrounded by coral reefs that are among the most diverse ones at the Pacific Coast of CR (Guzman, 1989). The water around the Caño Island is especially diverse with regard to cetaceans; furthermore it is the only place in the world where populations of hunchback whales arrive from the south and the north to raise their young.

Social aspects:

The inhabitants of Drake Bay are a rural and disperse human population. The region presents certain important economic activities due to the ecological tourism (Kappelle et al. 2003). In spite of the enormous natural wealth of this region the canton Sierpe is listed on the country poverty index (TNC, 2003).

Land offers:

Size: Between 11 and 90 Hectares
Place: Close to the Corcovado National Park
Existing Documents: Cadastral plane and notarizes publishes

All properties include areas of primary or secondary tropical rain forest with a great variety of species and plants, some of them endemic or only (still) existing in this area. Each property possesses basins of water, some with waterfalls. Furthermore different types of animal such as rodents, birds, mammals or reptiles call this place their home.