The Osa Biodiversity Center (OBC) provides comfortable accommodations and research facilities for students, scientists, and conservation professionals working on the Osa.

The Center currently houses up to 25 people in three cabin-style buildings, each of which has three bedrooms (pictured below left) . The Center provides a laboratory and secure storage room as well as dining facilities that can be used for group meals and meetings. The lab (pictured below right) is spacious, with multiple sinks and benches for working with samples of all kinds.

The OBC’s greatest asset, however, is its close proximity to a tremendous diversity of ecosystems. The center, located on an 800-acre forested property, provides easy access to some of the most diverse old-growth rainforest in Central America. This property lies in the center of a forested corridor stretching from Corcovado National Park all the way to Cabo Matapalo at the southern tip of Osa. Cooperative use arrangements with owners of adjacent properties provide students and scientists based at the OBC with access to an additional 3,000 acres of intact habitat. Within walking distance are a variety of pristine and disturbed forest types that harbor some of the largest trees to be found in the neotropics, agro-ecological systems, freshwater streams, and coastal habitat. The forests surrounding the OBC are home to a diverse array of large mammals, including jaguars, tapirs, and peccaries.

Cooperative use arrangements with owners of adjacent properties can provide students and scientists based at the OBC with access to an additional 3,000 acres of intact habitat.

Moreover, the OBC is located nearby to Corcovado National Park, the crown jewel of the Costa Rican park system.  Within the park's borders, students and scientists can explore additional habitats, including extensive raffia palm swamps and lagoon systems.  

During the wet season (May through November) the beaches near the OBC are visited by large numbers of nesting Olive Ridley sea turtles, as well as a smaller number of Pacific Green turtles and Leatherbacks. The rocky section of the beach features a diversity of rock types and tidal pool fauna.  

Through the center of the OBC property, the Rio Piro runs from forested hills out to the coast. This watershed includes a variety of springs and smaller tributaries. The river has a dynamic estuary and associated floodplain and riparian habitats.  The Osa's Golfo Dulce bay is a rare tropical fjord that affords easy access to mangroves and a variety of marine habitats. It has an abundant cetacean population and has been little studied.

A network of trails and old farm roads provides access to all of these habitats. Within a short drive, there is access to brackish lagoons with abundant crocodilian, estuarine fish and wetland bird populations.

Friends of the Osa can provide pickup truck transportation, high-quality instructors, and itineraries and guides for single day or extended excursions.  We also welcome volunteers to help on a number of conservation-related projects.

"There may be no better place in all of Central America to study tropical ecology than the Osa Biodiversity Center. The Osa Peninsula contains a nearly intact fauna, including jaguars, tapirs, white-lipped peccaries, curassows, macaws, and other sensitive species. The diversity of wildlife is astonishing. Moreover, the Center provides first-rate facilities and a fine trail network for investigating forests of all ages, coastal ecosystems, and a variety of agricultural lands. I recommend it enthusiastically."

–Dr. David Wilcove, Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs, Princeton University

Friends of the Osa is currently taking reservations for station use by student groups and researchers. To find out more about bringing your group to the OBC or staying at the station as a researcher, please contact Science Director Trond Larsen.