GUANACASTE NATIONAL PARKS

Costa Rica’s main attraction is the incredible bio-diversity found within its borders. The exceptional park system represents 13% of the national territory and reflects a strong commitment to preservation. Everyone visiting Costa Rica will help shape the future of conservation.

GUANACASTE

The Guanacaste region stretches from the western edge of Lake Arenal out to the Pacific Coast, encompassing the Nicoya Peninsula, all the way north to the Nicaraguan border. This region tends to be a little drier than other areas of Costa Rica, with a wide variety of flora and fauna in its many national parks. In the north, the mega-parks of Santa Rosa and Guanacaste protect delicate forest systems and provide a migration corridor for highland animals moving on to greener pastures in the wet season. In the south, prehistoric limestone foundations make for an interesting landscape, and at Barra Honda, some breathtaking cave formations sought by spelunkers from around the globe.

THE PARKS

Palo Verde National Park

Palo Verde is very important to ornithologists because over 300 species of birds have been recorded here. Enormous numbers of herons and storks make their home in the park, as well as the rare Jabiru Stork, known to nest only in Palo Verde.

One of Palo Verde’s unusual characteristics is its wide range of habitats, due to both elevation changes and seasonal changes. In the wet season, large areas of the forest are flooded, while in the dry season the opposite is true; so animals that normally live in the marsh have adapted to living in other areas until the rains re-irrigate the wet season marshlands.

Many tour operators organize boat rides on the Corrobici or the Bebedero Rivers to see a multitude of birds, monkeys, crocodiles etc.

Rincon de la Vieja National Park

This is quite a unique park, packed with immense diversity in both animal and plant species and in its geologic formations. Wildlife here ranges from the famous Resplendent Quetzal you find in more centrally located forests to woodpeckers found in dry forests. Of course, you still find motmots, tapirs, peccaries and coatimundis living side by side with armadillos, monkeys and toucans.

Now about that volcano …. Rincon has several cones, lagoons and craters, which have given it the nickname, “The Yellowstone of Costa Rica”. It has erupted at least 12 times since 1860. Although it’s still very active, scientists believe that the abundance of fumaroles, boiling mud pots, springs and sulphuric steam vents help it to let off enough pressure to prevent a big explosion. There are lots of trails through these wondrous sights, so you’ll have no problem getting photos of the rainbow-hued landscape, coloured by minerals the volcano emits through steam vents.

ARENAL VOLCANO

In July of 1968, the people of Arenal Hill were suddenly made to realize that what they always thought was a harmless hill was actually a violent, resting volcano. This volcano came to life, in a fury of rocks, lava and ash. It devastated the west flank and caused 78 deaths. Intermittent rumbling, explosions and nocturnal fire-spitting are the mesmerizing features that draw visitors to its base by day and night. Clouds often obscure the summit, but when lava flows cascade, incandescent rocks fly and Arenal roars, few forget it. Its flanks have been declared a national park but the nocturnal light show can be witnessed equally well from outside the boundary.

SANTA ROSA

This remarkably hot park preserves more than 120,000 acres of tropical dry forest and overgrazed pastures hugging the coastline of the peninsula, Santa Elena, where its purpose is to protect turtle nesting grounds. Easy to access and well structured, Santa Rosa was the site of three historic battles to preserve Costa Rica’s independence. The first and most dramatic in 1856, is well illustrated by the exhibits at the small museum of La Casona.

There are many trails for hiking through the tropical dry forest out to the beaches, where it is possible to camp overnight with a permit.

LAS BAULAS NATIONAL MARINE PARK

Playa Grande plays host to the giant Leatherback (baulas) turtles. This giant of the turtle world measures up to eight feet and weighs around 1,500 pounds. Unlike other turtles, it does not have a hard shell but a thick, black, leathery skin; nor does it show strong fidelity to a particular nesting site. Solitary female leatherbacks, come ashore on the Pacific coast usually between October and February to dig their huge nests where they lay about 100 eggs in a laborious nocturnal operation, before covering them with sand and wading back to sea.

Sources: ICT, Fodor’s and several web sites on Costa Rica.