brilliant place - if you like being off the beaten track,animals and birds,personal service and cold showers.

geoffrey was an amazing host - liked the food,shared dinners with other guests, seeing the spider monkeys, howlers,coatis,tapir,snakesetc.

we drove in from pj, after driving down from arenal. what an adventure.would recommend doing your own thing - if you have nerves of steel and a good 4x4.

we will go back again - excellent place to go before you die,or before you get a full time job and your pulse drops too low to go beyong disneyland.

Corcovado Lodge Tent Camp is a special place to stay due to its incredible location, in the middle of the jungle in front of the sea getting there by foot along the beach.

You have the chance of feeling the real and strong power of nature: the constant sound of the waves so close (specially at night...), the dense vegetation,... the solitude of you and nature.

AIRSTRIP: the flight to Carate was an incredible adventure itself.
We won't forget it.

ANIMALS: this is the place where we saw most of the animals of all our trip (we were in Arenal, Rio Celeste, Monteverde and Tortuguero). We took the full day hiking.

TENDS: "luxury" tends, very comfortable beds, wood floor, reasonable space, little terrace.

BATHROOMS: common bathrooms with no hot water.

FOOD: delicious food considering that you are in the middle of nowhere.

SERVICE: the staff was very kind.

GARDENS: well kept, comfortable grass.

BEACH: you cannot swim in this beach, it's dangerous because of the ties and the undercurrents.

COMMON AREAS: splendid views from them, nice and big bar. The roof of the bar, restaurant and bathrooms need urgent fixing. The water drips from the roof.

TIPS:
- Don't worry about the situation of tents (in other reviews people talked about rear and front beach tents). They made changes in the situation of tents and nowadays all tents are in the front beach. (Some of them are some meters back, but in the front of the sea, as well).
- Ask for a tent close to tent number 1 since it's the closest tent to the bathrooms.
- Tent number 1 is the only one with a double bed (special for honeymooners...).
- No mosquitos while we were there (August).
- August is low season. We were almost alone. There are 20 tents at the lodge. We ocuppied 4 tents and there was another couple. We would prefer to find more ambiance.
- We organised the trip with CostaRica Expeditions.
They are a real serious travel agency. We recommend them.

ENJOY THE POWER OF NATURE

As short-trip budget travelers, staying at a lodge in Carate / La Leona was a step up in price, but we were very happy with Corcovado Tent Lodge. Costa Rica Expeditions, who book Corcovado Lodge, offer charter service from San Jose (as part of your overall package), but if you fly into Puerto Jimenez on your own (NatureAir or Sansa) why not spend a day there exploring the Golfo Dulce. We kayaked in among the mangroves and in the gulf itself and had great day there. Getting to Carate, then, Costa Rica Expeditions offered a private taxi ($80) to make the drive but the collectivos ($8 p.p.) running along the same road offered a sensible alternative, especially since we were traveling light.

Meanwhile, the Lodge itself offers guided hikes (at outrageously expensive per person rates) and utilizes a core group of two or three or lead those excursions.

The tents themselves are small and charming, and quite perfect. Ours looked through some palm trees to the sea. We watched sunrises and sunsets on the same beach -- it's really a remarkable setting!

We spent two days and two nights -- the first day we hiked for 2 hours in the Lodge's private reserve. The second day we took the guided hike into Corcovado National Park. On the morning we left we walked for a pleasant hour in the Carate Wildlife Refuge, a great place for bird watching. If we had spent another full day there, we would have walked to the Luna Lodge to explore their trails, but really, we were satisfied with our two full days and two nights.

Finally, we were able to arrange a reasonably-priced charter flight directly from the Carate airstrip. This saved us quite a few hours and a bit of money, too, rather than taking the 2-hour collectivo back to Puerto Jimenez and paying for a last-minute commercial flight to San Jose. But after this bit of pampered paradise it was back to public buses and cheap hotels for us! We had a fantastic time during our stay, and wouldn't hesitate to return there again.

We started our two week Costa Rica vacation at the Corcovado Lodge Tent Camp and it was absolutely our favorite location. The lodge has 16 tent cabnis spread out across a bluff directly above the beach. The rain forest is right behind you. We took the canopy tour and watched a three toed sloth for a couple of hours as well as monkeys and birds, including toucans. We also took the Salsupuedes hike through the rain forest and beach and saw anteaters, percaries (wild pigs), deer, monkeys, and several species of birds. The tent cabin was very comfortable and I enjoyed hearing the waves all the time. The best part of the trip was a very unexpected blessing of being able to see about 15 turtle hatchlings who just popped out of the sand make their journey towards the ocean. It was the most glorious and moving sight.

We had no problem with the shared toilets and bathrooms, but you did have to get used to the cold showers as they do not have hot water.

FYI, there is a tent lodge next door called La Leona Lodge, but we much preferred the Corcovado Tent Lodge. These two lodges seemed to be the only lodgings in the area which accentuated the remoteness and privacy of the area.