Costa Rica? EUREKA! There’s one country that’s got the lot

She keeps popping into my head. And there’s no doubt that the teenage eco-warrior Greta Thunberg would approve wholeheartedly of Costa Rica’s much-heralded efforts to look after its outstanding natural beauty.

It’s just that Greta goes about her mission with such earnestness that you can’t help wanting the girl to smile more, despair less and have some unadulterated fun.

Thank goodness the people (some five million in total) in this spectacular country — which has Nicaragua on its northern border and Panama to the south — do a great deal of smiling and, as far we can see, have lots of fun. 

Captivating: The Rio Celeste waterfall in Costa Rica. Almost three million people visit the country every year, with Britons very much at the front of the tourist peloton

Ticos, as Costa Ricans are called, are gentle, welcoming and wear their eco-credentials lightly, perhaps aware that for all the environmental high-mindedness, the bottom line counts, too.

Almost three million people visit the country every year, with Britons very much at the front of the tourist peloton, helped hugely by direct BA flights.

Despite its small size (roughly similar to Denmark), Costa Rica possesses more than five per cent of the world’s total biodiversity, and its disbanding of its army in 1948 means that huge financial resources have been ploughed into education, resulting in a literacy rate way above the average for Central America.

Costa Rica’s slogan ‘Pura Vida’ (pure life) may be cheesy, but it’s not without foundation when you consider its ancient rainforests, active volcanoes, waterfalls, coffee plantations, national parks, hippy-dippy surf towns, rumbustious Pacific and calm Caribbean coasts, plus, topping the bill, a wildlife that comprises 250 species of mammals, nearly 9,000 species of birds and more than 250,000 types of insect, including a quarter of the world’s butterflies.

So take binoculars. But, whatever you do, bring the most powerful mosquito repellent on the planet because we lose practically a whole day nursing our throbbing ankles, hands and arms after offering the midgies a perfect all-you-can-eat Anglo-Saxon gourmet dinner.

It’s early November when we visit. That means the Pacific west coast is in transition from the rainy to dry season, while on the Caribbean coast it’s the other way round.

Easy going: The beach at Santa Teresa. You put your watch away… especially at sunset when the spray of the surf catches the fading light, writes Mark 

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen, pictured, has a house in Costa Rica. Mel Gibson also has a place in town and David Cameron spent Christmas near Santa Teresa a couple of years ago

We flit back and forth between the two and experience some ferocious but exhilarating downpours, plenty of clear skies, high humidity and temperatures around the 28 degree mark. Our aim is to see and do as much as we can over ten nights, with the help of tour operator Elegant Resorts and its excellent ground handlers, Travel Pioneers.

For the most part we want to drive ourselves — a road trip of sorts, albeit one that results each evening in a comfortable bed and good bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. ‘Don’t bother with San Jose,’ a friend had advised. But we are pleased to have brushed shoulders, fleetingly, with the capital, staying our first night at Grano De Oro, a colonial-style hotel about a mile west of the city centre.

My wife, Joanna, collects antique glass and did a Google search before leaving the UK. So just after checking in, we order a taxi, hand the driver an address and head off heaven-knows-where. ‘I wait for you,’ says the cabbie, as we pull up outside a dilapidated antique shop.

We’re not sure if this is because we will find ourselves stranded or because he knows a good piece of business when he sees one. Turns out he insists on staying with us for the next two hours as we stop here and there, after which he charges only £15. It’s about the only bargain we will encounter. Costa Rica is not cheap.

Next day, we retrieve our rental car and head west to the Papagayo Gulf, not to the overly-built area where the Four Seasons and other big resort hotels cater mainly for Americans, but about an hour or so south where the serial Moroccan/French entrepreneur, Mehdi Rheljari, has just opened a five-room eco-lodge called Kasiiya.

It’s one of the most exceptional projects I’ve ever witnessed, mainly because you might never know it’s there.

Such is the footprint of the tented suites that it’s the howler monkeys who have more of a presence than any of the man-made structures. Mehdi bought some 55 hectares of rainforest which towers over three beaches, accessible only from the sea if you are not staying at the hotel. Come to think of it, hotel is really the wrong word, but eco-lodge doesn’t do it justice either.

The young staff are totally committed to Mehdi’s vision. There’s a shaman-type character who operates from a tree-house spa; barefoot Bruno, originally from Berlin, offers ‘movement sessions’ (some of which involve taking your cue from animals); and trained naturalist Manfred takes you on hikes pointing out the wildlife (I swear there’s a tear in his eye when an osprey does a fly-past).

The beautiful Papagayo Gulf. Mark headed about an hour south of here, where the serial Moroccan/French entrepreneur, Mehdi Rheljari, has just opened a five-room eco-lodge called Kasiiya

You go with the flow here (there are only two choices at lunch and dinner and just the one at breakfast) because you know it will land you just where you want to be. Leaving after 48 hours is not easy — and proves vexing as we head south to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica’s little secret which is not such a secret any more.

The drive is onerous. We’ve done everything possible by way of downloading the satnav app Waze and it should take us 4½ hours, but nearly seven hours later we’re crawling along a bumpy track in darkness, wondering why people are calling Santa Teresa the ‘new Tulum’. ‘Bad roads bring good people,’ is a refrain we hear more than once.

If true, Santa Teresa must be a community of saints. The main street, separated from the beach by a thin strip of woodland, has giant craters in it.

Perfectly positioned Hotel Nantipa has been open for less than a year. Its modern design (teak wood, huge sliding glass doors, flashy bar and restaurant on the beach) is in stark contrast to Santa Teresa’s hostels, shacks and yoga retreats

Costa Rica? EUREKA! There’s one country that’s got the lot