1. Corcovado National Park
This location is the best place in Costa Rica to spot wildlife. Corcovado has 140 mammal species, 370 bird species, and over 10,000 species of insects. In addition, it is also home to a wide variety of reptiles and amphibians such as the infamous crocodile and the venomous snake the Fer de Lance. What makes this a hotspot for seeing a vast variety of animals? It has a wide range of biodiversity on its small landmass. National Geographic has named it ,” The Most Biologically Intense Place on Earth in Terms of Biodiversity.”
To get to this location is an adventure in itself. Corcovado is on the Osa peninsula which means you need to take a boat to get there. I took my speed boat from Sierpe. The first hour on the boat you are speeding through rivers and mangroves. The mangroves are a spectacular location to see sloths. Then the waterway meets the ocean and your boat jumps through the waves for the next hour. I recommend wearing sunscreen and watershoes. Your boat will not be able to pull onto the island so you have to wade through the ocean hip deep to make it on shore. The ocean can have a rocky bottom to it so be careful if you are barefoot.
When we arrived we seen our first animals in under a minute. There were three wild boars eating fruits that had fallen on the forest floor. We all edged closer to snap a few pictures. All the sounds erupted from the forest letting you feel as one with nature. The howler monkey screams echoed through the branches, different varieties of birds singing meshed together, and if you listened closely enough you could hear animals moving through the forest softly. As we took a trail to the right we came upon a tapir taking a nap with its baby by its side. The tapir is the largest land mammal in the Americas. Nearby we spotted anoles, monkeys, and birds. All four species of monkeys reside in this park. They are the spider, the squirrel, the howler, and the white capuchin monkeys.
I enjoyed watching the squirrel monkeys play. They were just as curious of us as we were them. There were also many spider monkeys swinging from their tails to nearby branches. A couple of them had babies.
Tours that come to Corcovado will provide a lunch for you at one of their stations. There are two main stations you usually can choose between. One is the Sirena and the other is San Pedrillo. The Sirena station has the longer tour and is best for wildlife. The San Pedrillo route has a nice waterfall. The tour company I used was Costa Rica Te Enamora. They provided private pickup and dropoff from my hostel in Manuel Antonio.
I was well satisfied with the tour. We spotted many more animals along the coast and they have a large river running through the park that usually has a few lazy crocodiles hanging around. However, the day I was there we were unable to see any. Nevertheless, we did come across a plane crash that had happened in the 70’s.
Iguana 
Coastline 
Crested Owls 
Plane Crash from 70’s 
Black Throated Thrush
2. Night Tour near Manuel Antonio Park
If you’re really into adventure and want to see how the rainforest looks at night this tour is for you. It is not for the faint hearted who do not like things that go creeping and crawling at night. These tours consist of slithering snakes, stinging scorpions, hairy spiders, and loads of vibrant bugs. I booked my tour through Expedia . The tour is called Manuel Antonio Herping Adventure. Firstly, my guide picked me up from my hostel and took me to our location to get prepared for the night tour. Then the guide gave me some tall rubber boots and a flashlight. Afterwards, we headed into the forest. When you shine your flashlight many eyes are reflected from it. Most of them are spiders.
The humidity causes your hair to stick to your skin and you may feel like creatures are crawling on you. Make sure not to touch the trees. There may be hidden creatures on them such as scorpions. Remember you are always being watched.
Alternatively, you will also see the cuter creatures of the night such as colorful frogs and toads.
Last, but not least is the encounters with the snakes during the tour. We tracked down the venomous, deadly Fer de Lance.
3. Day Tour of Manuel Antonio National Park
The Manuel Antonio National Park is infamous in Costa Rica. It is a popular tourist spot because of the animals that are spotted here. I highly recommend taking a guide through the park. The guides are trained to spot animals that are hidden and that may be far away. They bring telescopes to give you a closer look at the animals in their natural environments. They are super friendly and will take photos for you as well. On my 3 hour tour, we hiked through the park to see the friendly sloths and walked to the beautiful beaches.
4. Damas Island Kayaking Adventure
Lastly, if you would like to try another physical activity and see the intricate mangroves, this is a tour for you. The tour I took was at Nacarcosta Wildlife Adventure. Link down below:
They settled us in our kayaks and we explored the waterways. We spotted more white capuchin monkeys, a boa, and another sloth. If you’re lucky you may spot an anteater. This was a relaxing tour and afterwards they provide fresh fruit and a peek into their palm oil farm that is ran with strong water buffalo. Beware of the electrocute fence there! I may have been electrocuted on it.
Overall, if you are visiting Costa Rica and want to see the wildlife you should do at least one or two of these tours. I left with a large amount of knowledge and an immense understanding of the natural world.