Upcoming journey
Costa Rica:
Unseen
6 days · Early summer & fall 2026
Winter 2027
Journeys unfold within defined windows, with dates finalized around the cohort that forms.
Overview
Costa Rica: Unseen is a leadership journey that travels across Costa Rica’s ecological gradients, from high-elevation cloud forest 3,000 metres above sea level, through remote interior landscapes, to tropical rainforest and Pacific coastal ecosystems.
The journey traverses some of the most biologically intense regions on Earth, beyond well-worn routes.
Created for leaders navigating complex, consequential work, this journey places participants in terrain and living systems that restore a sense of scale.
This is not a highlights tour of a familiar destination. It’s an invitation to experience Costa Rica through specific places, relationships, and realities rarely encountered through conventional travel.
By keeping the full itinerary undisclosed, each leg of the journey is encountered as it comes, preserving surprise and keeping attention rooted in the present rather than anticipating what comes next.
What follows is enough to help you understand the nature of the journey, and whether it is right for you.
Who this journey is for
This journey is for leaders building, funding, or stewarding organizations, companies, or initiatives while navigating complexity and consequence.
Participants often share:
responsibility that doesn’t switch off, with real stakes that rarely stay confined to working hours
comfort with complexity, navigating trade-offs, uncertainty, constraints, competing time horizons, and human dynamics
a sense of compression, where urgency and repetition can narrow perspective over time
a pull toward something more alive, grounded not in escape or theory but in immersive experiences that restore perspective and sharpen judgment
This is not a retreat for disengagement, nor an adventure for thrills alone. It asks for openness, effort, and a willingness to be changed by what you encounter.
What this journey is
This is a ridge-to-reef experience across multiple distinct locations.
We begin above the clouds at a remote, self-sufficient mountain lodge, hiking through mist-veiled cloud forest, before traveling to tropical jungle and coastal ecosystems. At each site, you'll spend time on foot and on water in landscapes that feel primordial and intensely alive.
What this journey includes:
time with conservation leaders establishing a climate-adaptive mega-corridor: a living lifeboat for biodiversity
rare access to anti-poaching patrols and land-protection efforts
learning plant medicine, cultural traditions, and land stewardship directly from Indigenous leaders
meeting local entrepreneurs working at the intersection of ecology, economy, and community
immersion in landscapes where jaguars hunt, scarlet macaws nest, and biodiversity reaches extraordinary density
This journey brings together:
days on foot and on water: hiking cloud forests and jungles, navigating rivers, exploring Pacific coastline
time alongside peers who carry similar weight
physical challenge that fully engages the body and awakens the senses
skilled facilitation that sharpens insight and clarity
The result is a journey that is immersive, demanding, and deeply grounding, without spectacle, extraction, or overwhelm.
Why Costa Rica
Costa Rica is widely known for its natural beauty. What makes it distinctive for this work is the way the living world is encountered at close range, within a small yet remarkably varied geography. Over short distances, cloud forest gives way to rainforest, rivers, agricultural land, and ocean. Landscapes, livelihoods, and ecosystems sit side by side, so scale is restored not through vastness alone, but through density and proximity.
Despite accounting for a tiny fraction of the planet’s land area, Costa Rica is estimated to contain roughly five percent of global biodiversity. Ecological richness here is not abstract or remote. It presses close, shaping what you see, hear, and move through each day.
Costa Rica’s abolition of the military and early commitments to conservation created rare conditions, where ecological protection, livelihoods, and development pressures collide at close range, and trade-offs are encountered directly rather than discussed at a distance.
The Osa Peninsula brings these dynamics into especially sharp focus. One of the most biodiverse regions in the country, it is shaped by Indigenous land stewardship, conservation leadership, and community-led efforts operating under climate pressure and economic constraint.
This is not wilderness as scenery. It is a place experienced on foot and over water, where dense ecological and human worlds press close and demand attention.
Why this journey
Many participants arrive capable, committed, and effective. The work still matters deeply, but the conditions around it have intensified.
Information is denser. Change moves faster. Leaders are asked to respond to overlapping signals, shifting priorities, and forces largely beyond their control. Decisions carry real consequences, often under significant pressure, with little time to pause or widen the frame.
Over time, much of this work becomes increasingly mediated by systems, abstractions, and representations of impact. Even when outcomes are tangible, the wider world can begin to feel distant, fragmented, or oddly out of reach.
Costa Rica closes that distance through direct encounters with living systems that make presence unavoidable.
The experience
Environments you’ll encounter
The journey spans multiple ecosystems, including:
high-elevation cloud forest and mountainous terrain
lowland tropical rainforest
rivers, coastlines, and marine environments
How time is spent
We move between locations via overland travel, with full days spent at each site. Experiences include:
hikes that demand sustained effort and attention
rafting jungle rivers and sea kayaking
meeting frontline conservation teams in the field
learning directly from Indigenous leaders
facilitated reflection and group dialogue
unstructured time for conversation and integration
Pace and physical effort
Days are physically demanding without being endurance exercises. Activities at each location typically span much of the day on foot or on water. The intention is attunement: engaging mind and body, drawing awareness outward, and traversing complex terrain with presence rather than force.
Participants should arrive in good general health and be comfortable spending consecutive hours active outdoors, including in challenging physical settings and variable weather.
Participation in specific activities is guided by conditions, safety, and individual comfort. No one is expected to do anything that doesn’t feel appropriate or safe.
Local partners
This journey exists because of long-standing relationships with local partners, guides, conservation leaders, and community members. These relationships shape where we go, who we meet, and how we move.
Conservation & community engagement
Participants encounter initiatives focused on conservation, land stewardship, anti-poaching, community resilience, and sustainable livelihoods, not as case studies but through direct conversation and shared experience.
Why this access exists
Many of the places and encounters involved are not accessible through commercial tourism. Access is built on trust, reciprocity, and long-term presence.
Access & relationships
Lodging & meals
Accommodations are primarily in remote, locally run wilderness lodges, chosen for their location, integrity, and close relationship to the land and surrounding communities.
These are not luxury resorts, nor are they roughing-it experiences. They are comfortable, distinctive places, thoughtfully designed and deeply situated within their surroundings.
Because of the remoteness of some locations, accommodation is typically shared, usually with one other participant. A limited number of private rooms may be available where additional rest, quiet, or privacy is required. Needs and preferences are discussed during onboarding.
Meals are fresh, nourishing, and thoughtfully prepared, drawing on local ingredients and regional traditions. Food is designed to support physical activity, recovery, and presence.
While settings are remote, care is taken to ensure participants are well-rested, well-fed, and well-supported throughout.
What’s included
a 7-day immersive journey
local guides and partners
all activities and experiences
all lodging, food, and ground transport during the journey
What’s not included
international flights
personal travel and medical insurance
personal expenses
Facilitation & support
Each journey is intentionally held by experienced facilitators, with support extending before, during, and after time in the field.
Support spans:
pre-journey orientation and preparation
facilitation throughout the experience
space for individual reflection, group dialogue, and collective sense-making
post-journey integration support
ongoing self-directed and facilitated opportunities to stay connected with your cohort after the journey
Investment
This journey is designed and facilitated as leadership and professional development. Depending on role and context, participation can be expensed.
$8,500 CAD / $6,250 USD
Accommodation is typically shared, with two participants per room. A limited number of private rooms may be available where additional rest or privacy is needed. Where requested and available, an additional fee of up to $1,500 CAD / $1,100 USD for the full journey may apply.
Once cohort is formed, a $2,000 CAD / $1,500 USD deposit secures your place and is fully refundable for two weeks.
A limited number of fee adjustments may be available to support participation across a range of sectors and contexts. Please indicate in your application if you would like to be considered.
Exploration process
Participation begins with a conversation.
Each submission is reviewed thoughtfully, with care for you, the cohort that forms, and the places we enter. This process prioritizes alignment, readiness, and care over scale.
Journeys run within defined seasonal windows, with dates finalized around the cohort that forms.
Take the next step
If this journey resonates, begin a conversation to explore alignment and timing.
Questions?
You’re welcome to reach us at journeys@jaguarandhummingbird.com