A small natural reserve in Montezuma of only 63 hectares honors the memory of Nicolas Wessberg, but only few know who he was or why this place is named after him.

Olof Wessberg also known as Nicolas Wessberg was born in Germany but lived most of his life in Sweden; his wife, Karen Mogensen was from Denmark, they were married in 1952, the couple wanted to leave Sweden and Europe in general, due to the difficult situation that the continent was going through after the war; they longed for a different lifestyle, and with that in mind they left in 1954 in a trip that took them to Mexico. Their intention was settling there, but they had problems with their migratory status, they continued in their search for the next country to call their home, they traveled through Central America, a friend recommended Costa Rica and when they found themselves in Montezuma they agreed that this was the place they had dreamed of.

The couple bought a small piece of land near Montezuma and little by little acquired neighboring properties and started in a mission to reforest the land.

Olof was looking for seeds to plant in his property and for this reason he visited Cabo Blanco, to his dismay he noticed that a big area of the forest had been cut down. He then made it his mission to create a natural reserve of the area that was still pristine; with this goal in mind he began his negotiations with the government authorities and looked for foreign funding to purchase the land; the Costa Rican authorities back then were not convinced with the idea of a national park, but Olof ended up convincing them to collaborate. In this way and thanks to his effort , Costa Rica’s and Central America’s first national park was founded October 21, 1963, the Absolute Reserve Cabo Blanco.

The main trail in the Cabo Blanco National Park is called the “Swede’s path” in honor to them.

As years went by, Nicolas and Karen worked hard in preserving Cabo Blanco; and soon he became interested in the protection of another area, Corcovado in the Osa Peninsula. In 1975 with the objective of writing a report that will help protect this beautiful natural area Wessberg traveled to Corcovado, promising his wife he’d be back for her birthday; but when that day came and Nicolas didn’t come back, Karen knew something bad had happened and set out to look for him with the help of local farmers.

She eventually found his body, or what was left of it, since in the weeks that had passed the wild animals had eaten his corpse only leaving his bones, his compass, knife and shoulder bag.

Nicolas’ remains were buried in his land in Montezuma. It is believed that he was killed by a young guide on behalf of the locals of Corcovado that didn’t want the land to become a national park, but instead wanted to exploit the land.

Shortly after his death the Government of Costa Rica made Corcovado the second National Park in the country.

Karen continued her life in Montezuma and passed away in 1994 when she was 68 years old. In her will she donated her property to the State with the condition that it had to be an Absolute Reserve: “Guaranteeing the well-being and happiness of the wildlife within its limits, which should be protected completely from all human disturbances”.