Costa Cruises

Wilson Botanical Gardens

Posted by CostaRica | Costa Rica Guide | Posted on December 10th, 2009

Wilson Botanical Gardens was founded in 1963 by Robert and Catherine Wilson, and is located along the southern Talamanca mountain range of Costa Rica, near the border with Panama. When starting the garden they were inspired by the famous Brazilian botanist Robert Burle-Mark, who highly valued internal microclimate, which nature has in that area.

Now gardens cover an area of about 10 hectares, and hiking trails totaling more than 10 km. Surrounded by a rich flora, consisting of 2000 species of a variety of plants, flowers and trees, the gardens contains 400 species of birds, 800 species of exotic butterflies, hundreds of species of animals. In addition, in the Wilson Botanical Gardens you can see about 40 species of bats, as well as many different reptiles and amphibians.

Of course, one day is not enough for a full visit to these places. Therefore, many visitors are provided accommodation and meals. Here the visiting tourists from around the world are offered rooms equipped with all necessary things and restaurant, which regularly prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner for guests.

Wilson Botanical Garden is deservedly popular among plant lovers, as well as researchers, conducting research in this area. An extensive collection of palms, lilies, cacti, ferns, is constantly updated with new models, which allows in-depth study of the subject. Many scientists live here for years to finally give the world an excellent monograph or dissertation.

For ordinary tourists the garden is a real eldorado for photographing and inspection of the plants which usually grow in places difficult and inaccessible without deep penetration into the jungle.

The climate in these places is quite dry; the rainy season is short and usually lasts from September to December. Arriving in Wilson Gardens at this time, do not forget to take with you a waterproof jacket and shoes and make sure that the memory card in the camera or camcorder has enough room – you have to shoot a lot. Each visitor of the Wilson Botanical Garden took with him/her an unforgettable experience and a lot of great photos.