Selvatura (tel. 506/645-5929, www.selvatura.com, 7 a.m.–5 p.m. daily), north of Santa Elena along the road to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, offers canopy exploration along treetop walkways with three kilometers of suspended bridges ($20 adults, $15 students, $10 children) and via an 18-platform zipline canopy tour ($40 adults, $30 students, $25 children; tours at 8.30 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.). It also has a hummingbird garden ($5), a vast domed butterfly garden ($10), and a climbing wall. Guided nature hikes are offered ($35).

The unique, not-to-be-missed highlight is the Jewels of the Rainforest Bio-Art Exhibition (www.biophotos.com, $10), featuring more than 50,000 insects from around the world, the display is only a small fraction of the stupendous Whitten insect collection. Richard Whitten’s findings represent more than 50 years of collecting: the largest private collection of big, bizarre, and beautiful butterflies, beetles, and other bugs in the world.

It surely is the most colorful — a veritable calliope of shimmering greens, neon blues, startling reds, silvers, and golds. Whitten began collecting “bugs” at a tender age; today his 1,900 boxes include more than one million specimens, much of them collected in Costa Rica.

The stunning, dynamic displays combine art, science, music, and video to entertain and educate about insect mimicry, protective coloration and other camouflage, prey-predator relationships, and more. The creativity is sheer choreography.

Exhibits glitter against a background of opera and classical music, the climactic highs of the arias and ponderous lows of the cellos seemingly rising and falling to the drama of the displays, many of them re-creations of natural habitats under domed glass, the brilliant conception of Richard’s wife, Margaret. An unexpected treat may be an impromptu performance by Whitten (a former professional concert performer) displaying his talents on the glockenspiel, accordion, piano, or organ.

Covering 232-square-meters, exhibits include a “Biodiversity Bank” with dozens of spectacular and informative displays of every species in the country; a wall of Neotropical Butterflies, moths outsize a salad plate; a World of Beetles, from Tutankhamen scarabs to the giants of the beetle world, some bigger than your fist; a Phasmid Room (stick insects and family); and a Silk Room displays elegant moths. Other special themes include paleontology and medical entomology. A 279-square-meter auditorium screens fascinating videos. “Stunning, educational, and fun!” says Smithsonian entomologist David Roubik.