Situated 300 miles away from Costa Rican mainland, Isla de Coco is a somewhat untouched part of Costa Rica that manages to escape the influx of tourists. It is the world’s largest uninhabited island all be it for a few park rangers who insure that the paradise is preserved and it is this preservation that has seen this haven for natural wildlife of both the sea and land to be nominated as one of the New 7 wonders of nature.

The nomination was officially decided this month following an intense qualification round whereby more than almost 430 places were nominated from 224 different countries. Isla de Coco made it through the initial voting to the final 77 and now is competing for a space as one of the top 7 most natural wonders in the world. It faces stiff competition from various other stunning places in the world from the Amazon rain forest in South America to Ayers Rock (Uluru) in Australia.

Mainland Costa Rica is famous for boasting a massively diverse population of creatures, however Isla de Coco arguably accommodates an even larger number thanks to the strict laws enforced preventing anyone to stay on the Island. Whilst the land houses numerous amounts of wildlife, it is the surrounding sea water that is most compelling with an abundance of sea life, sharks amongst other underwater life that makes it a great place for keen scuba divers.

The island may not have seen many visitors since its discovery but can boast claims to fame through a variety of appearances in films most notably Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park and Lost World. In addition it was the inspiration of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island novel after many tales pirates searching for hidden treasure were cast.

However should you pay a visit to the island it is unlikely that you will stumble upon a lost treasure of Jack Sparrow or bump into a prehistoric Tyrannosaurus Rex. In fact the likelihood is that you will come across a natural wonderland that has escaped the destruction of man, making it only a natural choice for one of the top 7 natural wonders of the world.

Voting for the nominees continues until July 2009 when the current 77 entries will be reduced to 21 whereby they will all then be put to a popular vote. The final of the New 7 Wonders of Nature will be in 2011.

(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Filed under: Cultural Events on January 9th, 2009