PUERTO JIMENEZ, Costa Rica — They awaken to the raucous calls of howler monkeys at 5 or so each morning, as the sun rises through a veil of palm fronds.

        The kids collect hermit crabs among the exposed roots of coconut palms. They follow the well-worn path of leaf-cutter ants as they haul chewed leaves like green shields back to their colony.

Bob Morgan is the patriarch of the Morgan family that has canoe liveries in Ohio and Indiana. (JON HUGHES/Photopresse photos) | ZOOM |

        Hiking along, they sometimes imagine themselves lost to civilization.

        In some ways, they are.

        For 40 years, the Morgan family of Warren County has run Morgan Canoe Livery in Fort Ancient and Brookville, Ind., where up to 50,000 Tristate adults and schoolkids venture each year for guided river trips and outdoor education programs.

        Now, the Morgans are expanding to this remote corner of the world, 2,000 miles from home, where capuchin monkeys and green iguanas roam free in lush, lowland rain forests. By fall, the family plans to welcome tourists to a new full-time business here, one offering kayaking and canoeing, rain forest hikes, bird-watching, horseback riding and sportfishing.

        In addition to checking in at the Morgan place called Guanabana, visitors will be able to stay in 15 tent “cabinas” that the Morgans run in Carate. The town is 30 miles away at the foot of Corcovado National Park.

        “People who enjoy doing what we do up there (in Warren County) might want to come down here and share the adventure,” says June Morgan, 67, who with Bob, 70, spends much of the winter in the Osa Peninsula here.

        It's all part of the family's own adventure into eco-tourism, a growing industry that capitalizes on people seeking to tie vacation experiences to the natural world.

Daughter Amanda Morgan, 10, said, “It's kind of like a different world. It's like nothing I've ever seen.” | ZOOM |

        Even the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden is excited about the prospect. It's considering teaming with the Morgans to offer the property as a travel destination for zoo youth groups.
       

The lure of Costa Rica

        Eco-tourism in this Central American country — about the size of West Virginia — has boomed in the past 15 years, from 250,000 international visitors in 1985 to 1 million today. It pumps about a half-billion dollars a year into the country's economy.

        Most who come here do it not because of its casinos and nightlife, but because of its rich biodiversity, including:

        • 155 species of amphibians.
        • 200 species of reptiles.
        • 200 species of mammals.
        • 850 species of birds.
        • 35,000 species of insects.

        Three years ago, the Morgan family bought a run-down house on 7 acres fronting the gulf, Golfo Dulce, and began working on fixing the place up. They eventually shipped down canoes and sea kayaks from the Fort Ancient canoe livery.

        “As far as biological diversity it's an outstanding place,” says Doug Feist, a Cincinnati Zoo curator and naturalist. He counted close to 100 species of birds during a recent, 10-day visit.

        “It is still so pristine and so untouched by the hand of man.”

Guanabana Lodge, the four-bedroom ecolodge, is near three two-person cabinas by the beach of the Golfo Dulce. | ZOOM |

        “We derive our living from the rivers in Ohio and Indiana, but we are educated in river ecology and we've always looked at ourselves as watchers of the river,” said Gary Morgan, one of five sons.

        “We'll want to do the same here.”

        The experience is not for everyone.

        There is no electricity or hot water, no phones or TV. Thorns and spines on tree trunks can leave nasty scratches. “No-see-ums,” gnatlike insects, nip at ankles and leave red welts.

        The sun can be unforgiving, hiking is exhausting, and the drive to get here is a jarring trek over a pothole-ridden gravel road.

        “It takes a certain type,” June Morgan says as a green tree frog emerges from a potted plant. “When you talk about the jungle and there might be snakes, some just wouldn't want to come. We want people to know they're not going to a Holiday Inn.”
       

Harsh but beautiful

        But it is breathtakingly beautiful.

        A gigantic ficus tree, its root buttresses rising like huge knuckles, is the centerpiece of Guanabana. The family has planted grapefruit, papaya, lemon, lime, oranges, guanabana and a banana grove.

        Several species of heliconia are in bloom with flowers the shape of lobster claws. Orange-chinned parakeets alight in nearby trees, and almond trees on the property attract brilliant Scarlet macaws. The parrots open the almond pods with formidable beaks and slip out the meat with their tongues.

Greg Morgan swings on a vine. | ZOOM |

        In the mornings, white-faced capuchin monkeys climb down from the trees and beg for bananas in the open dining area. Iguanas climb onto the hibiscus and devour the red flowers.

        Lustrous morpho blue butterflies float around the yard, as if on a string. Bats dart in and out of the shadows. And in the evenings, a pair of large cane toads wander through the hacienda in search of insects.

        Bob Morgan is an avid angler. He has jerry-rigged a catamaran for himself, lashing together two Morgan livery canoes, slipping in a platform, slashing off one end of one canoe and equipping it with an outboard motor.

        “It's not the biggest yacht in the bay,” he says, heading out for a morning of fishing. He catches rooster fish, mackerel and red snapper. Back at Guanabana, he filets the fish, and the catch is served that night.

        A rancher helps Gary Morgan and Mr. Feist launch their kayaks onto a river that runs behind his cattle ranch. The rancher has renamed his dog Lucky. The dog is missing its tail, having barely escaped an attack on this river by a caiman, a member of the crocodile family.

        “I wake up each morning and think, "What's going to happen today?'” Randy Morgan says. “You never know what's going to cross your path when you go out hiking. You're kind of on the edge of your seat. You're in the jungle, the jungle rules. It hasn't changed in millions of years.”

        The family's Ohio and Indiana canoe livery business will continue uninterrupted. There are plenty of Morgan family members to watch over things there.

        But there's an allure here that has a certain hold.

        “We're all outdoor people, we're naturalists,” Randy Morgan says. “A trip down the Little Miami River is fun and exciting, a trip down the Colorado River is epic. A trip down to the Osa can be that epic trip.”
       

Luring tourists is focus

        The drive from Puerto Jimenez to Carate takes 1 1/2 hours. The La Leona Eco-lodge of tent cabinas is located on a rise overlooking a pounding Pacific Ocean surf.

        Plans are to double the number of tent cabinas, build a new kitchen and dining area, add more toilets and showers.

        “A big part of me wants to keep things the way they are now,” Greg Morgan says. “But this will be the jewel of the Osa.”

        Marshall Hasbrouck was staying in Puerto Jimenez when he heard about La Leona. A biologist with an environmental consulting firm in Oakland, Calif., he also is a painter. He left one morning and hiked deep into the rain forest to spend the morning painting.

        “I like its simplicity, its authenticity,” he says of La Leona. “The experience with nature is enough. You don't need TV or music or air-conditioning. You don't need to make it an entertainment center.”

        Amanda, 10, and Randal, 6, have spent the most time here among the Morgans' 11 grandchildren. Both are home-schooled by their mother, Joanne, for the semester they miss back in Warren County.

        “It's kind of like a different world,” Amanda said. “It's like nothing I've ever seen.”

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