For sale · Babelo S.A. · Guatuso / Tilarán

2,384 hectares on Costa Rica’s largest natural lake

Private holding on the shore of Lago Cote, inside the Tenorio Protected Zone, between Volcán Arenal and Volcán Tenorio. Offered as a single estate — folio real 5035764-000.

Watch the film Cadastral plan WhatsApp +506 6427 6056
2,384 ha
Surveyed area
Lago Cote
Largest natural lake
Tenorio ZP
Protected zone
5035764-000
Folio real

Walk the land

Site film with narration — lake, forest, access and the view toward Arenal.

The land and its story

A single private estate on Lago Cote — ecological corridor, cultural landscape, and a rare titled holding in a protected zone.

Babelo S.A. owns approximately 2,384 hectares along the shores of Lago Cote, the largest natural freshwater lake in Costa Rica. The cadastral plan of June 1991 records 2,384 ha 4,578.62 m² under folio real 5035764-000, in Cote district, spanning Guatuso (Alajuela) and Tilarán (Guanacaste).

Different parts of the land have had different lives. One section was planted in Honduran pine, now mature. A smaller area was used for cattle and limited agriculture, including cardamom. Another served as an administrative compound and staff housing. The holding as a whole sits within the Tenorio Protected Zone, which restricts use toward research, observation and carefully scaled eco-tourism.

The owner notes that protected-zone status has carried tax treatment and eligibility for payments tied to carbon, biodiversity and hydrological services — details to confirm with counsel and MINAE / FONAFIFO records during diligence.

OwnerBabelo S.A.
Folio real5035764-000
Surveyed area2,384 ha 4,578.62 m²
Plan dateJune 1991 · scale 1:20,000
Forest river on the Lago Cote property

Forest, water, wildlife

Streams cross the property under closed canopy. In the 1990s INBio ran a biological survey here and recorded more than a hundred plant and animal species, with notes on what could be planted without breaking the local system.

Camera traps and visiting researchers have documented jaguar, ocelot, tapir, giant anteater, red brocket deer, otter, and a wide range of birds, reptiles and amphibians. Students still come for fieldwork.

The estate sits a short corridor away from the Arenal tourism belt and Tenorio Volcano National Park — Río Celeste included — while remaining remote on the ground.

Maleku ground, lake lore, a 1971 photograph

The lake is sacred to the Maleku and other indigenous peoples of the north. Accounts speak of long pilgrimages to its shore, including from as far as the Andes, and of shamanic use over generations. Artifacts are still reported on the land and in the lake.

Jacques Cousteau took an interest in Lago Cote and worked in the area. Local telling holds that one sector of the lake returns inconsistent depth readings.

On 4 September 1971, aerial photographer Sergio Loaiza made a survey image that later circulated as one of Costa Rica’s best-known unexplained aerial photographs — a disc-shaped object over the water. It is part of how the lake is talked about. It is not a scientific claim of the sale.

1971 aerial survey photograph of Lago Cote often cited in local accounts

1971 aerial frame by Sergio Loaiza, widely reproduced in Costa Rican accounts of Lago Cote. Shown as local history, not as proof of origin.

Maps & cadastral plan

Lake at about 10.5814° N, 84.9117° W, 680 m elevation. Click the plan to open it full size.

Regional map

Between Arenal and Tenorio, a few kilometres north of Lake Arenal. Use satellite in the map controls.

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Plano catastral · Babelo S.A.

Official plan, June 1991. Area 2,384 ha 4,578.62 m² · folio 5035764-000. Lago de Cote is drawn on the southern edge of the polygon.

Cadastral plan of Babelo S.A. property at Lago Cote
View full plan

Request the dossier

Title extract, full cadastral sheet, and a note on use limits inside the Tenorio Protected Zone. Serious acquisition inquiries only.

Or write directly: WhatsApp +506 6427 6056