History and Goals

History 

In my last two decades I was involved in the timber industry. For many years in Costa Rica logging became a very lucrative profession. My grandfather Jesus Ramirez Rodriguez was born in Cartago and through struggles, achieved great purchasing power with this activity. My father Hiner Alberto Ramirez Portuguez, following in my grandfather's footsteps, stayed in the industry for many years until the 1990s.

My father acquired this property in the late 80's for timber harvesting. At that time the high quality native tree harvesting industry was at its peak, it was at that time that my father decided to change his business to producing pallets of wood for export products. We started to use melina, a fast growing species, a great alternative to control areas of forest use and plant cycles, avoiding to touch valuable areas for biodiversity. This started a new vision for my father.

With the help of partners and friends, the biological station was born. With the great effort required to build a business like this, together with my mother, Enid Hernandez Barquero, they began to build the first facilities. At the same time, they were reforesting 100 hectares that were once pastures.

From 2000 to 2012, university students interested in the study of this complex ecosystem were received. Numerous studies were carried out by scientists from leading universities. The Zota remained inactive until 2018.

With the climate crisis we are experiencing and thanks to the knowledge I was acquiring, in 2018 I realized that we had the opportunity to use El Zota to raise awareness about the environment, through unique experiences that the tropical rainforest and its biodiversity give us every day.

-Hiner Ramirez Hernandez, El Zota

Our Goal

To make known the symbiotic relationship that connects everything, the ecosystem services that protected forests provide and how to understand the small gears that move the life of the species, move ours as well.

We focus on environmental education and forest restoration, offering ecological lodging services to all people who are willing to experience the magic of the forest.

To learn more about our mission, visit www.planetazota.com