A golden orb spider weaves its super-strong silk at Rara Avis

Rara Avis was Costa Rica's first bona fide ecolodge and as such could be held responsible for giving birth to the country's lucrative ecotourism industry. 

Set on the edge of the massive Braulio Carrillo National Park, this 1500-acre rainforest reserve and nature lodge lies on a northeast-facing mountainside and receives the cooling tradewinds of the Atlantic Coast.

The story of how Rara Avis came to be harks back to the late 1970s when an idealistic young American biologist named Amos Bien bought the land just before its owners were about to flog it to a lumber company.

Bien´s dream was to prove that rainforest conservation could be profitable. It was a radical idea at the time, but one that - through tourism - actually succeeded, and in turn provided a model for other ecolodges and businesses in Costa Rica. 

The lodge is without electricity but has a generator for the kitchen and cold running water for taps, showers and toilets. It is surrounded by dense virgin jungle that is home to unique ferns, palms, mosses, orchids and ancient trees. Tapirs, anteaters, monkeys, bats, opossums, armadillos, jaguars, ocelots and venomous snakes patrol the undergrowth, while hundreds of species of birds flutter above, including quetzals, green macaw, trogons, hawk owls, hummingbirds, kingfishers and woodpeckers.   

Just 200 metres from the main lodge is a dramatic 50-metre double cascade waterfall with a refreshing pool at its base for cooling off in after sweaty rainforest hikes. 

Rara Avis guides are hugely knowledgeable and every guest leaves the lodge with a greater understanding of rainforest ecology, the interconnectedness of nature and the importance of conserving it.  

Rara Avis lies 15km on an extremely rough track from the village of Las Horquetas, itself a 20-minute drive from the town of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui.  Getting to Rara Avis from Las Horquetas is a three-hour ordeal, but is an important part of this back-to-nature adventure. The first 11km of the bone-rattling journey is in a truck-pulled cart. Unbelievably, the road gets even worse, and all people, luggage and food needs to be transferred into a tractor-pulled cart for a further one kilometre. There is the option of doing the final 3km on foot through humid muddy jungle, and most people literally jump at the opportunity to get out of the tractor. 

The food served at Rara Avis is delicious, wholesome and plentiful and after spending your days swimming beneath waterfalls and hiking through dense jungle, you'll thoroughly enjoy the buffet-style feasts of gallo pinto, French toast, plantains, mashed potato, fried chicken, fresh salads and tropical fruit.  

At night, the dining area often transforms into a dance-floor where guests can shake a leg to salsa and merengue. 

Less than 100 metres from the lodge lies a butterfly garden and a  ''spider house'' where the silk from harmless golden orb spiders are harvested. The largest of the web-weaving spiders, the golden orb's thread is said to be stronger than steel.

A Barid´s tapir nicknamed Miguel is also often spotted around the lodge. Nursed back to life by one of the Rara Avis guides after being mauled by a jaguar, Miguel now wanders around the clearing when he´s feeling homesick or needs to recuperate after being injured in jungle battles.