The first thing that usually comes
to mind when people think about Costa Rica is the nearly 800 miles
of pristine beaches that decorate the coasts of Costa Rica. Touching
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Caribbean Sea, the expansive
Ecological Blue Flag beaches of Costa Rica are among the most sought-after
in the world. However, this tropical paradise is much more than
your typical waterfront vacation destination.
Costa Rica is one of the few places
where you can still enjoy vast expanses of untouched, undeveloped
land. With much of the land in Costa Rica protected from further
development, the tiny nation boasts more than 30 national parks
in its less than 20,000 square mile expanse. There are also 13 national
forest reserves and over 50 wildlife refuges.
Within Costa Rica's protected territories,
you can see virtually every form of terrain, wildlife, and plant
growth that can possibly survive in a tropical climate. Actually,
even though Costa Rica is in fact a tropical area, even its climate
isn't typical. Because the terrain is so diverse, there are a number
of distinct climate areas within Costa Rica.
In the lower elevations, the climate
is very hot and humid, typical of what one would expect from a tropical
locale. However, in the higher elevation areas, the climate varies
greatly. It even snows in the higher elevation areas in the colder
months of the year. For example, snow is not an unusual occurrence
on Mount Chirripó, the highest point with an elevation of
12,532 feet.
Outdoor enthusiasts will be in awe
of the variety of scenery that awaits them in Costa Rica. When you
travel to Costa Rica, you will have unique opportunity to travel
among such diverse geographic features as live volcanoes, craters,
jungle terrain, rainforests, rivers, waterfalls, and mountain ranges.
If you love birding, there is no better
destination that Costa Rica. On Costa Rica, you will see examples
of avian life you aren't likely to view anywhere else, as well over
half of the 850 species of birds that live in Costa Rica are non-migratory
species.
TROPICAL COSTA RICA
What is so special about Costa Rica? It is special in many ways:
it has numerous different types of climates, the topography is very
diverse and the different life forms present are astonishing! No
way to get bored with such a variety. Rivers, marvelous landscapes,
peaceful beaches, surfing beaches, waterfalls, wildlife, white waters
, sunny towns, cloud forests, jaguars, morpho butterflies, anteaters,
a whole array of different places, climates, landscapes and wildlife
to enjoy.
This has an explanation? Central America
appeared after the north America and the south American continents
existed. Once Central America appeared, it functioned as a bridge
where organisms began moving. That is one of the reasons why there
are so many different types of organisms in Central America, and
in Costa Rica especially. Marsupials coming from the South; coyotes,
tapirs, armadillos and raccoons from the North.
A 50,000 km2 country, Costa Rica contains
such wide variety of places, that you can go from the beach at 0
meters above sea level to the mountaintops, for example, at 1,916
meters (approximately 12,000 feet) above sea level in the Rincon
de la Vieja Volcano. The highest mountain, Chirripo, is 3,821 meters
(approximately 12,000 feet) above sea level. This high variety of
topography, with a varied type of climate, very wet in the Atlantic
and less wet in the Pacific, provides a huge variety of different
environments where numerous types of life have appeared. Costa Rica
has been estimated to be the 20th most diverse country in the world
in terms of different types of life forms.
COSTA RICAN FORESTS
Costa Rica is a green and wet country! It doesn't rain every day.
It doesn't rain all day. But humidity is high all year round (which
is marvelous for your skin!).
WILDLIFE
Do you like wildlife? Are you a birdwatcher? This is the place to
come! Costa Rica has such a high biodiversity that you can find
more species of birds in this tiny country than all Canada, United
States and Mexico combined! This is the birdwatcher's paradise.
You can listen to concerts of bird songs when walking down trails
in the forest. However, birds are not always easy to find. You can
hear them, watching them is more difficult because of our marvelous
green forests, that many have called "the jungle". Leaves
everywhere, our astonishing vegetation is a marvelous shelter for
birds.
You need to learn how to watch in
order to find the birds you listen to. The voices of the forest
are so many, that tapes have been recorded. Not only birds sing
in Costa Rican forests. There are an immense number of singing animals,
with different pitches and melodies. For example, our national bird,
the "yigirro" or Clay-colored robin, has one of the more
beautiful and complicated songs of the bird world. Its plumage is
not particularly pretty, but its voice is astonishing. On the other
hand, the "jilguero", another type of trush, is a bird
of great beauty and marvelous voice. Furthermore, there is a high
array of singing insects; toads and frogs make wonderful singing
choruses and... mammals! Yes, there are also numerous mammals whose
sounds you could hear, some at day, others at night. For example,
listening to the sounds of kinkajous is a great experience. At the
evening, you suddenly notice a special sound.. it does not come
from the ground.. it comes from the canopy. You look up trying to
find out where that sound comes from... then you find the direction
of the sound, take a flashlight and you see that pair of red eyes.
What a surprise when notice it is a pretty furry animal... yes,
it is a kinkajou, locally called "martilla". Classified
as a carnivore, this species has decided that tropical fruits are
wonderful and feeds on fruits from the forest. Just one of the wonderful
species from the tropical forest, with a wonderful fur and a delightful
sound. Not only birds sing!
The humid forest... site of continuous
change and no rest. Tiny organisms, many unseen to the human eye,
continuously work in the forest. Every debris from Nature is newly
transformed by a very diverse group of organisms: fungus, bacteria,
insects, etc. There is such high activity, that debris do not accumulate.
Therefore, soil humus does not accumulate too much, either. The
soil in the Atlantic forests of Costa Rica is not deep and it is
the cause of appearance of those strange and appealing structures:
buttresses. Because of this high activity or organisms, there is
no time for soil to accumulate. And because of constant rainfall,
the soil is depauperated of its nutrients, and also in many instances
it is a hard soil: there is no room for roots. But tropical trees
have found a way: they developed buttresses ("gambas").
Tropical fig trees, home and food
for numerous species of birds, insects, mammals, etc. These trees
have developed the ability to grow on top of other trees, where
they grow roots that reach for the ground, get thicker and as they
do they hugh the tree where they grew at first. At the end, the
fig tree "strangles" the other tree. This is the reason
why these trees are also called "stranglers". Some of
them take unusual shapes and big sizes.
If want to visit an ecological paradise
that offers an opportunity to enjoy diverse, terrain, wildlife,
and native flora and fauna, at trip to Costa Rica will surely delight
you.
