Curi Cancha National Wildlife Refuge Costa Rica

Haga click en el siguiente enlace para leer está página en Español: Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Curi Cancha Costa Rica

Location: 300 m east from Monteverde cheese factory, about 1 km before the famous Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, district: Monteverde, canton: Puntarenas, province: Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Zone postal code: 60109.

Ubicación WAZE de Curi Cancha National Wildlife Refuge Costa Rica  Ubicación Mapas de Google de Curi Cancha National Wildlife Refuge Costa Rica

GPS Coordinates: 10.304847,-84.809052 (10°18’17.45″N, 84°48’32.59″W)
Size: 76 ha (187 acres)
Curi Cancha National Wildlife Refuge Telephone: +506 2645-6915
Arenal Tilaran Conservation Area Telephone (ACAT): +506 2666-5051
INFOTUR Tourist Information: 1192
Facebook profile: www.facebook.com/pages/Refugio-de-Vida-Silvestre-Curi-Cancha-Monteverde

Curi Cancha National Wildlife Refuge Costa Rica: created in October 24th, 1997, in order to protect cloud forest in Tilaran Mountain Range near Las Juntas, part of the Arenal Tilaran Conservation Area. Curi-Cancha National Wildlife Refuge is a new park that used to be private property and is now opened to the public, located in the very heart of Monteverde, covering both lowerand wet montane and premontane wet virgin cloud forest, so it has a cool climate, sometimes very windy too.

The lower part is drier, with few epiphytes, but the upper portion is cloud forest. While the forest is not quite so pristine as Monteverde, the most spectacular birds are much easier to see, making it perfect for birdwatchers. The refuge is particularly good for the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno), one of the most sought-after bird of the cloud forest. The refuge is also a good place to find Keel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus), Blue-crowned Motmot (Momotus momota), Blue-Throated Goldentail (Hylocharis eliciae) and Orange-bellied Trogon (Trogon aurantiiventris). Among mammals, it has a lot of white-faced and howler monkeys, raccoons, coatis, kinkajous, armadillos, Three-toed sloths, anteaters and many more.

The The Curi Cancha Wildlife Refuge has the advantage of far less tourists and visitors than the main Monteverde Cloud Forest Parks, but shares similar ecosystems, with a mixture of primary and secondary forest. It also has a lovely location with several beautiful view points. The Curi Cancha Wildlife Refuge has 5 different trails, Sendero Leo 1.8km, Sendero Ficus 1km, Sendero Manga 2.2km, sender El Guacharo 950mts and the Sendero Pumade 1,5km, but be careful, even though are pretty and very peaceful, they can also be very slippery when it is raining so wear suitable foot wear!

The The Curi Cancha Wildlife Refuge but also offers experienced bilingual nature guide and round trip transport, as well as it has some rustic facilities such as bathrooms and entrances. Other nearby Costa Rica parks include Children´s Eternal Rainforest, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve.

Getting to Curi Cancha National Wildlife Refuge:

From San Jose take the Pan-American highway North to kilometer 133, then turn right towards Sardinal, 1 km after the Aranjuez River and Cuenca Restaurant, until you reach Santa Elena (about 29 Km). Once you reach Santa Elena, continue for another 6 km following the signs. Now you can also take the new Caldera Highway to Puntarenas and then follow the same directions to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. From Sardinal to Monteverde, it is recommended a 4×4 car, even during the dry season, since some 20 km correspond to a gravel road.

From Daniel Oduber International Airport (LIR), drive south on the Pan-American Highway through Liberia, Bagaces, Cañas and Las Juntas to Sardinal. Here, turn to the left at the gas station to Santa Elena (about 29 km). Once you reach Santa Elena continue for another 6 km following the signs. From Sardinal to Monteverde, it is recommended a 4×4 car, even during the dry season, since some 20 km correspond to a gravel road.

By bus

Take a bus San Jose – Monteverde, which takes about 5 hours (Transmonteverde S.A, +506 2222-3854). We recommend buying the ticket the day before to secure your space.

You can also take a bus Puntarenas – Monteverde, which takes about 2 hours (Transmonteverde S.A, +506 2222-3854). There is also a bus service leaving from downtown Santa Elena to Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.

Address map: Click here to view directions from Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO), Alajuela, Costa Rica TO Curi Cancha Wildlife Refuge in Puntarenas, Costa Rica at Google Maps

Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve Costa Rica

Location: 5km (3 miles) north of Santa Elena town, district: Monteverde, canton: Puntarenas, province: Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Zone postal code: 60109.
Santa Elena GPS Coordinates: 10.317369,-84.824386 (10°19’2.53″N, 84°49’27.79″W)
Size: 310 ha (765 acres)
Altitude: from 1,300 m (4,800 ft) to 1,700 m (5,600 ft.).
Schedule: from 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. all the year round. Night walks from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (with previous reservation)
Telephone: +506 2645 5390 / +506 2200 4688
INFOTUR Tourist Information: 1192
Website: http://www.reservasantaelena.org

Address map: Click here to view directions from Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO), Alajuela, Costa Rica TO Sardinal intersection (Rancho Grande), Puntarenas, Costa Rica at Google Maps

Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve Costa Rica is a state owned non-profit reserve created in March 1992, in order to help preserve the unique cloud forest surrounding them and to use tourism as a tool to benefit community development, thanks to the help of Youth Challenge International, a Canadian Non-profit Organization, the Costa Rican government and the Santa Elena Community, making it one of the first community managed reserves in the country, located high on the Tilarán Cordillera slopes.

The original vision was to use this land for agricultural research and education. But, for multiple reasons, the farming proved to be unsuccessful, and in 1989, it was decided to convert the land into a cloud forest reserve. The philosophy of this reserve is unique, where long term sustainability is not only a concern of the Reserve, but of the community as a whole, making it an excellent example of what people can do to preserve and learn from their environment.

A cloud forest is a highland forest characterized by nearly 100% humidity throughout the year. Here in the Santa Elena Clod Forest Reserve, warm North-Easterly trade winds, filled with moisture, blow in over the Atlantic. As the winds sweep up to the Continental divide, they cool and condense to form clouds, bathing the forest in a constant soft mist.

The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve is even cloudier and wetter than the Monteverde Reserve because of its higher elevation. Here, the cloud forest receives an incredible 4m (12 ft) of rain every year.

Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve has 83% of primary forest, with the remainder being mature secondary forest. Birds are less abundant than in Monteverde Reserve, but you can find a wide variety of birds as the spectacular Resplendent Quetzal, Three-wattled Bellbird, and animals such as Red brocket deer (Mazama Rufina), sloths, coaties, ocelots, howler, capuchin and spider monkeys, as well as a wide variety of insects, amphibians and mammals which never even come down to the forest floor, making it a perfect place for hiking, bird watching, volunteering or do some research.

One of the most characteristic features of the reserve is the abundance of vegetation, where competition for growing space is so intense that trunks and branches are almost entirely covered with a variety of lichens, liverworts, bryophytes, mosses and epiphytes, mats store moisture, which is especially important in the dry season (from February to May).

The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve trails will take you on an amazing journey of discovery as you blaze your way through the hanging vines and moist vegetation. The reserve has four main trails: the Caño Negro Trail, the longest trail (4.8km – 3.5hrs); the Encantado Trail, excellent for bird watching (3.4km – 2.5hrs); the El Bajo Trail, extends through more secondary growth forest (2.6km – 1.5hrs); and the Youth Challenge Trail, ideal for lookouts (1.4km – 45min), which are more natural and more difficult to walk than those of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. There is also a tower offering beautiful views of 5 Costa Rica volcanoes on a clear day: Arenal, Rincon de la Vieja, Tenorio, Miravalles and Poas, where visitors can even appreciate the Nicaragua Lake, as well as similar habitat and wildlife like the one in Monteverde reserve.

This reserve together with the Children’s Eternal Rainforest (El Bosque Eterno de los Ninos), the Arenal Conservation Area and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, constitute a contiguous conservation area of approximately 28,000 hectares (69,000 acres), with plans to raise funds to buy and restore adjacent farmlands for future inclusion into the Santa Elena Reserve. Conservation efforts in the area are concentrating on establishing forest corridors, so the Resplendent Quetzal, American Pumas, Jaguars, Ocelots and Red Brocket Deer have large territories in which to forage and breed.

The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve is the less visited sister reserve of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Less crowded, lush green forests full of flora and fauna, this reserve boasts one of the best places to hear and see howler monkeys in all of Costa Rica.

The Reserve is administered by the Professional Technical School of Santa Elena. All the profits from entrance fees, guided tours and the souvenir shop are dedicated to help and to give support to the education of Santa Elena’s youth. They are also invested into the development of courses in environmental education, biology, agriculture, language and tourism. In using the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve as a natural classroom, students and teachers harness an unlimited educational resource that can be used for anything from studying tropical plant ecology to leading tours.

At the entrance of the reserve, you can find a visitors center, a restaurant, a souvenir shop, boots for rent, etc. Other nearby Costa Rica parks includes Monteverde Biological Clod Forest Reserve.

Getting to Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve:

From San Jose take the Pan-American highway North to kilometer 133, then turn right towards Sardinal, 1 km after the Aranjuez River and Cuenca Restaurant, until you reach Santa Elena (about 29 Km). Once you reach Santa Elena, continue for another 6 km following the signs. Now you can also take the new Caldera Highway to Puntarenas and then follow the same directions to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. From Sardinal to Santa Elena, you will need a 4×4 car, even during the dry season, since some 20 km correspond to a gravel road.

From Daniel Oduber International Airport (LIR), drive south on the Pan-American Highway through Liberia, Bagaces, Cañas and Las Juntas to Sardinal. Here, turn to the left at the gas station to Santa Elena (about 29 km). Once you reach Santa Elena continue for another 6 km following the signs to Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. From Sardinal to Santa Elena, you will need a 4×4 car, even during the dry season, since some 20 km correspond to a gravel road.

By bus

Take a bus San Jose – Monteverde, which takes about 5 hours, making the stop at Santa Elena (Transmonteverde S.A, +506 2222-3854). We recommend buying the ticket the day before to secure your space.

You can also take a bus Puntarenas – Monteverde, which takes about 2 hours (Transmonteverde S.A, +506 2222-3854). There is also a bus service leaving from downtown Santa Elena to Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve Costa Rica

Haga click en el siguiente enlace para leer está página en Español: Reserva de Bosque Nuboso Monteverde Costa Rica

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve Costa Rica is the most famous cloud forest reserve in the world and one of the most important protected areas in Costa Rica. It is visited by nature lovers from various countries desiring to enjoy, appreciate and study the abundant biodiversity of its ecosystems. It was created in 1972 to protect the watershed above the village of Monteverde (“Green Mount”), a small town in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve entrance in Costa RicaAlthough majority of the reserve is located in the Puntarenas province, however parts stretch to the Alajuela province, along the Tilarán Mountain Range.

It is often considered a major tourist destination in Costa Rica, primarily frequented by ecotourists drawn by the high biodiversity of its numerous reserves, the most famous of which is the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. The area is also frequented by researchers and naturalists who come to study specialized areas of mountain and tropical biodiversity. The Monteverde area has been christened number 14 of the Americas in Newsweek’s 100 Places to Remember Before They Disappear, besides been deemed one of the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica, and also has been called “the jewel in the crown of cloud forest reserves” by National Geographic.

The reserve consists of 6 ecological zones, 90% of which are virgin forest, filled with extravagantly tall trees that range from 30 to 40 meters in heigh, with pathways that are embellished in orchids, bromeliads, ferns, vines, and mosses. The unique landscape is home to over 2,500 plant species, so is also known as the site with the largest number of orchids in the world, as well as has over 161 species of amphibians and reptiles, been known worldwide as the habitat of the golden toad (Bufo periglenes), a species that disappeared in 1989.

The variable climate and large altitudinal gradient has helped produce an extremely high biodiversity, with more than 100 species of mammals such as marsupials, squirrels, porcupines, agouties, deer, monkeys, muskrats and felines such as the Jaguar, Ocelot, Baird´s Tapir, Three-wattled Bellbird, Bare necked Umbrella bird and the famous elusive Resplendent Quetzal. The beginning of the migration of the bell bird (Procnias tricarunculata) is similar to that of the quetzal, with reproduction occurring from March to June, and followed by a post-reproductive move downhill on the Pacific slope during the months of August and September. Besides, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve has about 400 bird species, where 21% of them are long distance migratory birds, which reproduce in North America and pass through Monteverde during their migration. Three of these species, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve Quetzal in Puntarenas, Costa RicaSwallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus), the Piratic Flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius), and the Yellow-green Vireo (Vireo flavoviridis), reproduce in Monteverde and migrate to South America during their non-reproductive phase.

The majority of the bird species in Monteverde are primarily insectivores, given that the plants in the region offer a wide variety of fruit. The epiphytes are important resources for both, frugivores and insectivores in Monteverde. On a global scale, the cloud forests of Monteverde are home to ten species of birds that are considered to be endangered by the Birdlife International Organization, due to their very restricted habitat worldwide.

Resting roughly at 1400 meters above sea level, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is misty and windy, with a mean annual temperature of 18°C (64°F) and an annual rainfall averages around 3,000 mm (118 in), where humidity oscillates between 74% to 97%.

Early in the 50’s, a group of quakers from the United States and their families arrived to Costa Rica. Led by Hubert Mendenhall, John Cambell, Howard Rockwell, and Wilford Guindon, they settled in Monteverde, when colonization in the region was just beginning.

It was in 1972 that biologist George Powell joined Wilford Guindon, one of the Monteverde Quaker pioneers, to promote the establishment of the natural preserve now known as the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, an area of extraordinary beauty and biodiversity; it is today the best-known private reserve on the Central American. The establishment of the reserve was fully backed by the Quaker community. During the first years they helped to obtain financing, and during the construction of “La Casona”, they received scientists and visitors as guests in their homes.

After the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve creation, the Tropical Science Center continued to secure the financial and human resources necessary to expand, consolidate and properly protect and manage the non-profit reserve.

The spectacular Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve feels like walking in a grandiose green Cathedral, where poorly drained areas support swamp forests while parts dissected by numerous crystal clear streams tumbling over rapids and waterfalls. With its unique cloud canopy, Monteverde Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve Hanging Bridges in Puntarenas, Costa RicaCloud Forest Reserve is a paradise for nature lovers and avid photographers. It comes as no surprise that people who visited Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve rank it as one of the most beautifully, stunning and breath taking nature reserves in the world.

The number of visitors to the preserve has risen consistently from 471 visitors  in 1974 to 70,000 in 2005, so the income derived from entrance fees and charges for scientific research provides the budget to cover the cost of all administrative, managerial, security and educational expenses.

The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve offers ideal facilities for research, education and ecotourism. It has a lodging mountain “La Casona” with capacity for 47 persons with an agreeable service of cafeteria and restaurant, a room of audiovisuals and a sale of tickets, a center for environmental education, a scientific laboratory with a classroom of study, administrative offices and a shop of crafts and souvenirs. Other nearby Costa Rica reserve includes the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve.

Getting to Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve:

From San Jose take the Pan-American highway North to kilometer 133, then turn right towards Sardinal, 1 km after the Aranjuez River and Cuenca Restaurant, until you reach Santa Elena (about 29 Km). Once you reach Santa Elena, continue for another 6 km following the signs. Now you can also take the new Caldera Highway to Puntarenas and then follow the same directions to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. From Sardinal to Monteverde, you will need a 4×4 car, even during the dry season, since some 20 km correspond to a gravel road.

From Daniel Oduber International Airport (LIR), drive south on the Pan-American Highway through Liberia, Bagaces, Cañas and Las Juntas to Sardinal. Here, turn to the left at the gas station to Santa Elena (about 29 km). Once you reach Santa Elena continue for another 6 km following the signs. From Sardinal to Monteverde, you will need a 4×4 car, even during the dry season, since some 20 km correspond to a gravel road.

By bus

Take a bus San Jose – Monteverde, which takes about 5 hours (Transmonteverde S.A, Phone: +506 2222-3854). We recommend buying the ticket the day before to secure your space.

You can also take a bus Puntarenas – Monteverde, which takes about 2 hours (Transmonteverde S.A, +506 2222-3854). There is also a bus service leaving from downtown Santa Elena to Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.

Location: 6km (3.7 miles) southeast of Santa Elena, district: Monteverde, canton: Puntarenas, province: Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Zone postal code: 60109.
Santa Elena GPS Coordinates: 10.317369,-84.824386 (10°19’2.53″N, 84°49’27.79″W)
Size: 17.000 ha (42.000 acres)
Altitude: 1,200 m to 1,600 m
Schedule: from 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. all the year round.
Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve Telephone: +506 2645-5122 / +506 2645-5579
Fax: +506 2645-5034
INFOTUR Tourist Information: 1192

Address map: Click here to view directions from Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO), Alajuela, Costa Rica TO Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Puntarenas, Costa Rica at Google Maps