Natuwa Wildlife Sanctuary

Costa Rica

Natuwa Wildlife Sanctuary

Supporting wildlife recovery in Costa Rica through care, education and rewilding.

Natuwa Wildlife Sanctuary offers a refuge for injured and confiscated wildlife and works to restore habitats in one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.

Through its sanctuary and rewilding programmes, Natuwa provides specialist care for animals rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss and injury, including scarlet macaws, jaguars, tapirs and sloths. The team combines rehabilitation, breeding and release efforts with habitat protection and education to support the long-term survival of Costa Rica’s biodiversity.

NatureSpy is proud to support Natuwa by providing trail cameras and technical guidance to help monitor wildlife across their sanctuary and restored landscapes. This equipment helps the team better understand animal health and behaviour.

Who's involved

Monitoring Wildlife from the Sanctuary to the Forest

Trail cameras play a valuable role in Natuwa’s work across animal care, ecological restoration and education. Within the sanctuary, cameras are used to monitor animals recovering from injury or trauma - particularly nocturnal species such as sloths and kinkajous - helping the team better understand their eating habits, behaviour and recovery progress. This insight helps the team to tailor their care and improve enclosures to meet the specific needs of each animal.

Beyond the sanctuary, cameras are helping to assess the impacts of Natuwa’s habitat restoration work. The organisation has been reforesting areas surrounding the sanctuary and enhancing local wildlife corridors. Trail cameras will help build a clearer picture of which species are present and how they are using the restored habitat over time.

Natuwa also hosts students each summer for a field biology basics course. Students gain hands-on experience with trail cameras, learning how to deploy them and how to manage and interpret footage to support conservation efforts.

A BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT

Costa Rica is home to nearly 6% of the world’s biodiversity, despite covering less than 0.1% of the planet’s landmass. The region around Natuwa Wildlife Sanctuary is part of the country’s Pacific lowland ecosystems, which support a wide range of threatened and endemic species. By protecting and restoring habitats here, Natuwa contributes to the conservation of diverse wildlife - from jaguars and tapirs to sloths and tropical birds - and strengthens ecological corridors in one of the world’s most biologically rich landscapes.

How NatureSpy Are Supporting

NatureSpy has provided trail cameras to enhance wildlife monitoring across Natuwa's sanctuary and rewilding projects. Each aspect of Natuwa’s work brings different monitoring requirements; from observing animal behaviour during rehabilitation to documenting the return of wildlife in restored forest habitats.

To meet these varied needs, we’ve supplied a tailored combination of trail cameras: the NatureSpy Helarctos, which offers high-quality video that’s ideal for closely observing animal behaviour, particularly in nocturnal settings; and the NatureSpy Ursus, a reliable all-round trail camera for both video and photo capture, chosen for its excellent performance in humid tropical environments like Costa Rica's forests.

This approach ensures Natuwa can gather valuable insights into animal care, recovery, and the broader impacts of their conservation work. Alongside the cameras, NatureSpy also provides technical support to help maximise the effectiveness of the equipment in the field.