Dos Brazos de Rio Tigre


Useful Information

Location: Dos Brazos de Rio Tigre, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica.
(8.526600, -83.402300)
Open: All year daily after appointment.
[2023]
Fee: Adults USD 30.
[2023]
Classification: MineGold Mine ExplainPlacer Mining
Light: n/a
Dimension:  
Guided tours: D=3 h.
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address: Dos Brazos de Rio Tigre, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, Tel: +506-8691-4545, WhatsApp: +506-8691-4545. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

ß1-FEB-2014 all visitors must be accompanied by a certified professional guide to enter the park.

Geology


Description

Dos Brazos de Rio Tigre (Two Branches Of The Tigre River) is a community located on the Osa Peninsula adjacent to the Corcovado National Park. Two arms of the Tigre River meet in the center of town, giving the community its name. The community focused on ecotourism and local conservation, offering Corcovado hikes, horseback riding, community cooking classes, and artisanal gold mining tours. With the discovery of significant gold deposits in the early 1930s people moved into the area. In October 1975, Corcovado National Park was established, the largest park in Costa Rica. As a result the mining inside the park became illegal and the people started to mine illegally. The locals are rather poor, and gold mining is more or less the only income.

As an alternative people were trained as guides, and since 2014 visitors must be accompanied by a certified professional guide to enter the park. This provides work for the locals, and the tours are quite informative. One tour is called the Tour Cultural de Oro (Golden Cultural Tour) and is a gold panning tour. The visitors learn first-hand the artisan practice of gold panning from expert local gold miners. Also, the history of local gold mining and the ecological problems are explained.