Family-Friendly Rainforest Adventure in Costa Rica

Part One – The Forest That Remembered

What's the Wood Wide Web?

Underfoot lies a forest within a forest, an underground web of roots and fungi that lets trees share nutrients, water, and warnings. Scientists call it the wood wide web, a term popularised after forest ecologist Suzanne Simard showed that trees are part of an interdependent network. Underground fungal threads transmit not only nutrients but chemical warnings — a mother tree can boost her seedlings’ defences when pests strike elsewhere in the forest. 

And the craziest part? In one cubic inch of soil, there can be more than a mile of mycorrhizal filaments — the rainforest’s true neural network.

At Nayara, reforestation has rebuilt this hidden architecture. Two decades ago the land was pasture, dry, compacted, almost silent. The first step in healing was planting native cecropia and guarumo trees that invite insects, birds, and bats back into balance. Beneath them, fungi returned, stitching the forest back together. Within years, orchids bloomed again and the air began to hum. The forest, like a family, thrives because of what it shares.

Recent research confirms what families have long felt: travel strengthens bonds, boosts well-being, and enhances learning. Studies show that shared travel experiences improve parents’ happiness and children’s cognitive growth, turning adventure into long-term connection (Journal of Travel Researce).

In 2025, as more families seek meaningful, wellness-oriented, and sustainable experiences, Central America emerges as the ideal destination. Costa Rica’s biodiversity, active conservation, and regenerative hospitality make it a living classroom for discovery and renewal (Yale Environment 360, Earthwatch).

For visiting families, Nayara’s trails become classrooms. Under the guidance of naturalists, children learn that the rainforest is not static; it is alive, responsive, and full of stories. They spot toucans in flight, mimic frog calls, and study the geometry of ferns. Science stops being abstract and becomes something you can touch and feel.

Nayara Gardens immerses families in a mature forest, while Nayara Tented Camp tells the story of renewal, the place where reforestation began. The two are linked by pathways where vines and orchids reclaim the pastures of decades ago.

The Forest That Forgot and Remembered

In the 1970s and 1980s, Costa Rica faced one of Latin America’s highest deforestation rates. Cattle ranching turned diverse canopy into grassland; soils hardened and wildlife vanished. The turnaround is now a global case study in regeneration. By the late 1990s the country launched its Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programme, paying landowners to protect or restore forest rather than clear it. Combined with a protected-area network covering a quarter of the country and a renewable-energy mix exceeding 98 percent of the national grid, Costa Rica reversed a decades-long trend. Today more than half the nation is forest again.

Nayara’s work mirrors that national story. The resorts operate on 100 percent renewable electricity through a partnership with Coopelesca, drawing on hydro, geothermal, wind, and solar sources. Across the grounds more than 2,000 native cecropia trees have been planted to support wildlife, and over 30,000 native and ornamental plants now flourish, with guest education embedded in guided tours.

Why Our Sloth Sanctuary Is Not a Petting Zoo

One of Nayara’s most visible successes hangs in the trees. Sloths, once rare here, are now seen frequently, sometimes from a villa balcony. The sanctuary is not a petting zoo; it is a living corridor. There are no cages, no enclosures, and no feeding schedules. We plant the trees sloths love and let them choose when to arrive.

Some days visitors see several sloths; other days none. That unpredictability is the point. Regenerative travel means creating conditions for nature to thrive, not controlling the outcome. In the sanctuary, children learn that the rainforest runs on sloth time, slow, deliberate, efficient. It is a gentle lesson in patience and proof that luxury can mean leaving space for the wild. Read more in The New Currency of Luxury.

The sanctuary connects to a larger web of life. Behind Nayara’s properties, reforested land merges with the Arenal conservation area, forming part of a national network of biological corridors that let wildlife move safely between reserves. Camera-trap surveys now capture toucans, kinkajous, and ocelots recolonising the region.  

The next phase is scaling these corridors beyond our boundaries. Partnerships with neighbors, conservation groups, and the Arenal Chamber of Tourism aim to extend the reforested zones outward—linking private lands to the national park and forming one continuous passage from the base of Arenal Volcano toward the San Carlos plains. It’s a living experiment in how hospitality can become habitat.

Here, the forest doesn’t stop at the property line — it expands through it.

The Forest as Proof

Costa Rica produces more than 98 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and protects more than a quarter of its territory through the National System of Conservation Areas. At the resort level, independent audits confirm results. Nayara Gardens, Springs, and Tented Camp hold Green Globe certification and carbon-neutral status. Waste is sorted across ten categories, surplus food supports local partners, organic waste is repurposed, and energy and water are managed with clear reduction targets and monthly reviews. Awards are not the goal; they are confirmation that regeneration works. 

What Costa Rica teaches is simple and powerful. Protect what matters, measure what you change, and invite people to learn by walking the forest. Families who explore Arenal see how reforestation, renewable energy, water stewardship, and community partnership add up to a living blueprint. The same principles that helped a pasture remember it was a rainforest can guide future places of care, from islands to deserts. The classroom is nature, the lesson is connection, and the homework is to carry those habits forward wherever we travel next.

From Roots to Stone: A Bridge Across the Pacific

This rainforest story is only the beginning. Across the Pacific Ocean, on Rapa Nui, another kind of regeneration is unfolding, a cultural one. There, ancient stone watches over a community reconnecting language, craft, and identity. Join us in our next story, Walking Giants, to see how the idea of connection extends from roots to stars to stone.

Impact Dashboard

• 2,000+ native cecropia trees planted to rebuild canopy and create habitats for sloths and birds.

• 30,000+ native and ornamental plants thriving across reforested areas, with guided guest education programs.

• 100% renewable energy sourced through Coopelesca’s hydro, geothermal, wind, and solar mix.

• 95% LED lighting conversion, with motion and photocell sensors cutting outdoor energy use by 20%.

• Geothermal water systems heat pools and facilities efficiently, paired with drip irrigation and linen reuse programs.

• 10-stream waste system with food donations, composting, and local partnerships to eliminate single-use plastics.

• Green Globe certification and carbon neutrality verified through annual audits.

• Frog Garden conservation area protecting native amphibians and teaching bioindicator science to families.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Which Nayara resorts in Costa Rica are family-friendly or romantic?
Nayara Gardens and Nayara Tented Camp are family-friendly, welcoming guests of all ages with connecting suites and nature programs for children. Nayara Springs is adults-only, offering a romantic retreat with private mineral hot-spring pools and spa experiences designed for couples.

2. What is the wood wide web in Costa Rica’s rainforest?
It’s the underground network of fungi that connects trees, allowing them to share nutrients and signals. Ecologist Suzanne Simard’s research first revealed this phenomenon (Nature, 1997; Finding the Mother Tree, 2021).

3. How has Nayara helped reforest the Arenal region?
By planting over 2,000 native trees and 30,000 plants to restore habitat for sloths, toucans, and monkeys while linking wildlife corridors around Arenal.

4. Why is the sloth sanctuary not a petting zoo?
It’s a protected natural corridor. Sloths move freely and are never handled or fed, reinforcing respect for wild behavior.

5. What is the Frog Garden?
A habitat designed with biologists to support amphibian breeding and offer an outdoor classroom for children and guests.

6. What sustainability certifications do Nayara’s Costa Rica resorts hold?
Nayara Gardens, Springs, and Tented Camp are Green Globe certified and carbon neutral, audited under the resort’s Sustainable Management Plan.

7. How does Nayara manage energy and waste sustainably?
Through 100% renewable energy, efficient lighting, and a ten-category recycling and composting system in collaboration with local farmers.

8. How does Costa Rica’s rainforest story connect to the world?
It shows how restoration, education, and renewable energy can coexist with luxury travel, creating a global model for regenerative tourism.