How to Easily Avoid the Alcohol Scandal in Costa Rica
Corcovado
Corcovado is known for offering extreme Amazon-like biodiversity, exuberant wildlife, and a striking nature experience. This is probably the place in Costa Rica where you are most likely to see wild animals. About 50% of the species reported for Costa Rica can be found in Corcovado. This park also boasts jaguars and tapirs. This National Park has mountains, forests, rivers, mangroves and beaches.
The Corcovado National Park is located in the South Pacific of Costa Rica in the Osa Peninsula in the Puntarenas Province. This is the only large remnant of lowland primary forest in the Pacific Coast of Central America. It was established as a National Park in 1975, after the intense effort of researchers, the government and the support of international agencies such as The Nature Conservancy, The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the Rare Animal Relief Effort.
The park has 44,484 hectares, but surprisingly 50% of the biodiversity of the country lives here. The park protects around 500 species of trees, 150 orchid species, 140 mammal species, 370 species of birds, 120 of amphibians and reptiles, 16 species of freshwater fishes and countless species of insects. Gigantic trees are easy to appreciate on the trails, accompanied with the songs of toucans and macaws. Several species of birds in Corcovado are endemic to the area, and this is one of the fewest places in the country where the big mammals are present in good numbers (such as peccaries, jaguars, other wild cats and tapirs). This is one of the few parks where the white-lipped peccaries are common. Bull-sharks can be seen in the Sirena River. From the coastal areas of this park, you can watch whales in the Pacific Ocean, and four species of marine turtles nest in this beaches.
The park can be accessed by two routes: Puerto Jimenez or Bahía Drake. Inside the park there are four ranger stations: Sirena, Los Patos, Carate and Leona. These stations provide basic lodging, but reservations should be made in advance. Corcovado has very humid tropical forest, and during the rainy season some areas of the park may be closed.
Sources: Area de Conservación Osa Boza, M. 1981.; Los Parques Nacionales de Costa Rica. Incafo. 310 p.
 |
 |
