Costa Rica, translated as the Rich Coast, is an exceptional country.
It is rich in happy people, rich in beautiful beaches and, above all, rich in beautiful nature.
So it is no wonder that Costa Rica regularly sets records when it comes to biodiversity and nature reserves.
One of the most popular and well-known animals are the breathtaking Morphos butterflies. With their huge, bright blue wings, they glide majestically through the rainforests and can hardly miss any Costa Rican motif.
Another well known inhabitant is the red-eyed tree frog. A cute and always exciting frog to observe.
These two species are definitely one of the highlights of vacation photos here in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, only very few tourist are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.
That's why more than two decades ago, we started to study and observe these wonderful species in order to shape their habitat so that they feel well and protected in their natural environment and can grow up peacefully.
To give the whole place a name, we chose to call it MARATOPIA
But what does Maratopia actually mean?
Maratopia is derived from the syllables MA (Spanish Mariposa = butterfly) and Ra (Spanish Rana = frog).
Here in Maratopia, you will get your money's worth if you also want to admire and experience the magnificent biodiversity of the small inhabitants. Feel free to move around in our park and take so many photos or videos of our sweet friends as you want, or join one of our guided tours to gather information about interesting details.
It can also happen that a sloth, an iguana or a toucan is crossing your path. The fact that we are located in a very calm and natural part of Costa Rica causes, that we have already been visited by the rarest and most surprising animals.

how it all started 

... our adventure began in 1996 when my father and I came down to Costa Rica to make a new beginning. At that time, the Caribbean side of Costa Rica was so unknown, that you could barely read something about it in the guidebooks. 

Also, there were no paved roads like today and it was still a real adventure, just to get to the capital San Jose. Nowadays a lot has changed, rental cars, bus lines and even flights are now available. But one thing is still the same as before, the positive energy emanating from the land and the people. And so it is no wonder that you fall very quickly in love with this country. Back then we were already so enthusiastic about the huge plants and animal diversity that we always had shrugged to this area. So it was only a matter of time that we wanted to share our fascinating impressions and experiences in this area with other people. 

That was the birth of our idea --MARATOPIA--

how it is structured

Maratopia extends on an areal of approx. 2500 m2. 

At the entrance behind the parking spot is our souvenir shop with a large "rancho" where you can relax, shop or enjoy your time. 

Behind we have set up a giant tent, of 700m2 big. In these tent we keep our butterflies protected and you will get inside by passing a sluice. 

Inside are hundreds of beautiful blue morpho butterflies along with magnificent trees and plants.

After you past the butterfly park, you will come to our orchid garden where we collect all kinds of beautiful and colorful orchids.  

And at the end of the property we have cultivate many tropical fruits in our plantation. Such as... mangos, papaya. cocoa, bananas, coconut, starfruit, pineapple, passionfruit, avocado and many more. The plantation ends right on the river "Rio banano" (Limon's largest river) and with some luck you can be observing howler monkeys, squirrel monkey, spider monkey, sloths, parrots, toucans or sometimes even some crocodiles. Also dolphins have been seen from time to time while venturing a trip in the freshwater river to go fishing.