I'm writing about a guy from my town who traveled Costa Rica in the late 70s and early 80s. They say he mined gold in Golfito at one point, and I was wondering if the mines from back then still exist. Mines there still there There is still gold, and there are still gold diggers. You can join a legal "gold mining" tour But out in the bush, don't even think about going around looking for gold mines. The gold mining tour sounds ideal.
We just want to see where he would have been mining and get a feel for it. Do the tours leave from Golfito?
I didn't come across any online. Are there are any local guides who might have been around in the late 70s that we could hire? We'll be down mid-July. Yes that tour sounds great I don't believe there ever were actual mines someone correct me on this? When Corcovado National Park was formed in around some hundreds of squatters were evicted and compensated with a combination of Costa Rican and international funds to support the declaration of this amazing sanctuary of wildlife that it is today.
But here's some info you might find of interest in your quest. From the Quetzal and the Macaw page 73 "By the squatters pigs and cows had been removed or eaten by the park's jaguars or by the park's staff or researchers, since no other source of fresh meat was available. The only squatters left in the park were some 15 to 20 semi nomadic gold prospectors or oreros, some of whom had been there since the 's gold rush.
They were considered almost part of the native flora and fauna and most of the gold mining areas - the rivers of the south central peninsular - were outside of the original park boundary, so the oreros weren't seen as a threat to the national park.
