Cabo Blanco Absolute Natural Reserve

The Cabo Blanco Absolute Natural Reserve is a Nature Reserve of Costa Rica, part of the Tempisque Conservation Area in the province of Puntarenas, covering an area of 3140acre terrestrial and 4420acre marine on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula near Mal Pais.The site is home to the San Miguel Biological Station which was developed to promote and support teaching, research, and environmental education and has facilities that include classrooms, laboratories and a reference library. The reserve was created in 1963 due to a campaign started by Olof Wessberg and was the first major conservation project in the country.HistoryUp to the 1960s the lands that now constitute the Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve were being depleted of their natural forests for use as farm and pasture land. The emphasis in those days was to develop and increase agricultural production and little concern was given to conservation of natural habitats.Olof Wessberg (known as Nicolas) and Karen Mogensen arrived in Costa Rica in the 1960s in the pursuit of Karen's dream of finding happiness in harmony with nature. They chose to establish themselves in the Nicoya Peninsula.Soon after establishing themselves in a farm near the Montezuma area, they set up on an expedition to the Cabo Blanco area in search for native tree seeds to reforest their newly acquired farm. Upon arriving to the area, he was amazed at the abundant wildlife and the size of the trees in the area. This was like an oasis in the midst of a desert as all lands around had been devastated to give way to low-yield pasture and agricultural lands.