Costa Rica From Above: aerial photography with drones of Costa Rica

Costa Rica From Above is an aerial photography reportage of this natural paradise of Central America, realized with professional drone DJI Phantom 4 PRO.

First shot is from beautiful Island Tortuga, a famous snorkeling destination in the Gulf of Nicoya. I recommend you to get there with Calypso Cruises, and their beautiful catamaran.

Island Tortuga

Calypso Cruises

Enjoy beaches, snorkeling and a ride on banana boat!

Island Tortuga

This is a short clip of what to expect on the island, shot with drone:

Another popular destination for enjoying sunbathing and beaches is Manuel Antonio National Park: a couple of hours of driving from San Jose, it is a protected marine park.

This shot is made stitching together other 20 single shots from around 500 meters of altitude.

Manuel Antonio National Park Tombolo

Along the road, I drove through endless palm plantations… just a road in the middle of a jungle of palms… quite an extraordinary view!

Palm Plantation

Moving south, an unmissable spot is Punta Ballena, a marine nature park where is common to spot whales. The best part is that the spot looks like the tail of a giant whale!

Punta Ballena

Getting to the south of Costa Rica rewards you with beautiful Corcovado National Park, an isolated jungle next to a long, volcanic and wild beach. Here I took this shot, one of my all favorite ones.

I was flying over the beautiful beach in Carate, at the gates of Corcovado National Park, in Costa Rica. From Above I noticed a lagoon, surrounded by jungle, right next to the volcanic beach.

The mix of colors were astonishing, and I did several flights to catch the perfect stripes of the different color of nature: the dark grey of the lagoon, the green of the jungle, the light gret of the beach, the light blue of the shore and the deep blue of the ocean.

Colors of nature

And these many more, around the area of Carate beach, the village at the gateway of the park:

Carate Beach

Jungle Broccoli

Carate Jungle Resort

On the opposite side of the country, lies the remote village of Tortuguero, along the banks of 2 rivers.

Tortuguero is one of the most remote national parks of Costa Rica, a pristine park where there are no cars, no traffic, no pollution at all. I was looking for taking some shots of the nature, but since I was on an island, walking was not getting me far.

I took out the swimming option: river was crowded with crocodiles! So I decided to explore the area with my drone: I immediately noticed the difference in the colors of the rivers. The dark ones is coming from the jungle, the lighter from the mainland.

This shot is running in the 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, and it has been published also on The Atlantic.