Why it's called Maze Lodge — and why we built four small lodges instead of a hotel

We arrived in Costa Rica in 2022 with no plan involving a hotel. We were looking at the Osa Peninsula the way most people look at it — as somewhere to visit — and then we stopped leaving. In 2024 the first guests slept in a lodge we had built on a hillside 5.8 km outside Puerto Jiménez, and the whole thing had a name that people have been asking us about ever since.

The name

Everyday life has a way of becoming a maze. Work, chores, obligations, the same corridors walked at the same times, and a persistent sense of moving quickly without arriving anywhere. Most people we know recognise this. Some of them recognise it for years before doing anything about it.

The idea behind Maze Lodge is simple: swap one maze for a better one. Get lost somewhere that rewards being lost — a forest where you cannot see the far edge, where the paths were made by animals rather than planners, and where finding your way back to the terrace is not the point of the walk.

Guests tend to arrive tightly scheduled and leave slower. That is the whole business, really.

Why this hillside

The land sits between two protected areas: Corcovado National Park on one side and the Tranquility Wildlife Reserve on the other. Animals move between them, and the route they use runs across this hill.

We did not understand the significance of that on the first visit. We do now: a national park is only as good as what surrounds it. Tapirs, peccaries and cats need to move between blocks of forest to keep populations mixing, and those corridors run through private land — land somebody can clear on a Tuesday. Owning a piece of one is a small responsibility that arrives with the deed.

Practically, it also means the wildlife watching starts before you have gone anywhere. Howler monkeys at 5.40 am, whether or not you asked. Toucans in the fruiting trees at breakfast. Macaws crossing at dusk in pairs. It is the single thing guests write home about, and we cannot take credit for any of it — we just did not stand in its way.

Four small lodges, not one hotel

The economics of a hotel would have been simpler: clear a flat area, build one building, share the plumbing. We built four separate lodges inside the existing forest instead, on the footprint that was already open.

Three reasons, in order of honesty:

• The forest is the product. Clearing it to build somewhere to look at it is a strange trade, and one this peninsula has seen enough of.
• Small keeps the animals. Four lodges, a maximum of a handful of guests at a time, and no restaurant humming until midnight. The corridor still works.
• Privacy is what people actually want here. Nobody flies to the end of the Osa Peninsula for a lobby. Each lodge has its own terrace over the canopy, its own kitchenette, and no one walking past it.

The full picture of what we run on — solar power, our own well, local guides and suppliers — is on our philosophy page, and the four lodges themselves are here, from $110 a night.

The road we refuse to fix

The last 5.8 km to our gate is gravel, and it is rough. We get asked about it regularly, sometimes pointedly.

It stays rough on purpose. A rough surface keeps speeds down, and low speeds are what stand between a crossing animal and a bumper. We would rather have the monkeys. If the drive does not appeal, we work with a taxi firm in town: $25 each way from Puerto Jiménez or the airstrip, in any weather — the full road guide is here.

What we learned by living here

• The green season is not the enemy. Mornings are usually clear, the forest is at its loudest, and the peninsula empties out. Half the year gets written off by guidebooks that have never sat through a Puerto Jiménez September.
• Guides change everything. The difference between walking past wildlife and seeing it is a naturalist with a telescope and two hours. It is why the river walk on our own trails is free for guests.
• Nothing should be promised. Sightings are not products. We tell people the odds and let the forest do what it does.
• Small businesses here depend on each other. Josh on the water, Luis in the park, the Bosque Mar crew ten metres from our gate. We book with the same people every week because they are good, and because that is how tourism money stays on the peninsula.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it called Maze Lodge?

Because everyday life becomes a maze, and this is a better one to be lost in. The forest here has no obvious edges and the paths were made by animals.

When did Maze Lodge open?

We came to Costa Rica in 2022 and welcomed our first guests in 2024.

How many lodges are there?

Four: Toucan Lodge for four guests, Turtle and Morpho for two each, and Casa Estrella with its own pool for up to eight. From $110 a night.

Where exactly is Maze Lodge?

5.8 km from Puerto Jiménez on Calle Miramar, on the Osa Peninsula, between Corcovado National Park and the Tranquility Wildlife Reserve. Ten minutes from the pier where the Corcovado and whale boats leave.

Is it really in the jungle?

Yes. The lodges are inside primary forest, on a wildlife corridor, at the end of a gravel road. There is air conditioning, hot water and Wi-Fi; there is also a howler monkey alarm clock.

Come and get lost

If any of the above sounds like the kind of place you have been looking for, the four lodges are here, and we answer WhatsApp within the day. Tell us when you are coming and what you want to see — we will build the days around it and tell you honestly what the forest is likely to give you.