A Rainforest Retreat

	Tree Hugger

Choosing doing good over feeling good sometimes requires a sacrifice. But for travelers who enjoy active vacations while avoiding crowds, ecotourism provides a sacrifice-free opportunity to both do good and feel good.

The International Ecotourism Society, established in 1990, defines ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural places, which conserves the environment and sustains or improves the well-being of the local people." The group has developed a set of ecotourism principles, as well as a directory of members adhering to them.

Though the term ecotourism has been in use for less than 30 years, the desire to see nature in a pristine, undeveloped state goes back at least a century to the advent of the conservation movement and the establishment of the national parks system.

Interest in ecotourism has burgeoned recently, making it one of the fastest growing segments in the travel industry. Ecolodges are typically intimately scaled, however, so crowds are not an issue.

At Lapa Rios, located on the Osa Peninsula at the southern tip of Costa Rica, there are never more than 64 guests, even during the high season.

A Jewel in the Jungle

Lapa Rios is on a 1,000-acre natural reserve between the Golfo Dolce and the lowland tropical rainforest near the Corcovado National Park.

The main lodge and 16 bungalows are built on several ridges, all hundreds of feet above sea level. Each airy bungalow has screened walls, two queen-size beds and a private deck with an outdoor shower surrounded by tropical flowers.

The indoor bath has a waterfall shower, as well as the standard type. There is no air conditioning, but cool breezes waft through the walls, and ceiling fans keep the air circulating. The units are designed for privacy, each with unimpeded views of water and tropical foliage.

And whether your activities include hiking, horseback riding, kayaking or just lounging on the deck or by the pool, there is virtually always something in motion nearby.

Lapa Rios is home to creatures great and small, from tiny opalescent insects that glow in the dark to elusive jaguars, which are rarely seen, though at least one group of hikers reported straying close enough to one to hear it snore.

Other critters that may be seen, as well as heard, include white-face monkeys, spider monkeys who often make a morning and evening commute through the trees near the bungalows, and reddish-brown squirrel monkeys that dine in the forest near the swimming pool.

Howler monkeys live up to the name; their yelping becomes especially frenzied when it rains. A resort guide said the howlers are delighted by downpours that allow them to stay high and safe in the trees and drink water that accumulates in leaves, rather than venturing down to the river where they're more vulnerable.

	Local Flora

There are also bright blue morpho butterflies, boa constrictors, iguanas of all sizes -- including a five-foot-long specimen that strolled through the dining room one day at lunch -- and small mammals, such as kinkajous, agoutis, coatimundis and sloths, sometimes in family groups. When kayaking or boating, it's possible to spy whales, sea turtles and dolphins in the gulf and nearby Pacific.

Though the animals encountered at Lapa Rios are undoubtedly wild, they're remarkably tolerant of human presence.

While horseback riding, my group stopped to admire a procession of white-face monkeys, many with babies on their backs. Instead of fleeing, the monkeys stopped to look back at us. The guide explained that monkeys don't fear horses and seem to regard the little animals -- us! -- on the horses' backs as babies, which are also nothing to be afraid of.

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