Aviarios del Caribe Sloth Refuge

This privately owned 75-hectare wildlife sanctuary (P.O. Box 569-7300 Puerto Limón, tel./fax 506/382-1335, aviarios@costarica.net, www.ogphoto.com/aviarios, free admission), one km north of the Río Estrella, protects a tropical humid forest and marshland ecosystem of freshwater lagoons threatened by the effects of fertilizers washing down from nearby banana plantations (the fertilizers have caused the marsh grasses to bloom prodigiously). The lagoons are a haven for caimans, river otters, and river turtles, as well as more than 300 bird species, plus monkeys and sloths; jungle trails lead to a lookout blind.

You don’t even need to head off into the sloughs, however, to spot wildlife—the owners have a veritable menagerie on-site, including Pink Cheeks the boa constrictor, Coco the crocodile, a couple of tame toucans, dozens of poison-arrow frogs spawned in the hatchery, and about 40 sloths (not least the world-famous Buttercup, who arrived as the first sloth orphan when only three months old in 1992).

Aviarios del Caribe is the only sloth refuge and rehabilitation center in the world, and is an important center for research into this little-understood creature. It has the long-term goal of rehabilitating as many sloths as possible. Babies are raised and prepared for rehabilitation into the wild (they’re fed on a goat milk formula; the milk study is funded by the Costa Rican dairy company, Don Pinos). Request to see the 20-minute video shot for TV.

It offers environmental education for local schools, and offers an “Adopt a Sloth” program. Volunteers are needed to help care for the sloths.

Guided canoe trips up the Río Estrella for up to five people cost $30 pp (3.5 hours).