Monteverde Cloud Forest

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A cloud forest is a highland forest characterized by nearly 100% humidity throughout the year. Here in the Reserve Santa Elena of Monteverde, 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 cloud forest here receives an incredible four meters of rain every year- that is almost twelve feet.

One of the most characteristic features of Monteverde cloud forest is the abundance of vegetation. Competition for growing space is so intense that trunks and branches are almost entirely covered with a variety of epiphytes, lichens, liverworts, bryophytes and mosses. The epiphyte mats store moisture, which is specially important in the dry season (February to May). The lush cloud forest canopy of Monteverde is thus home to many species of insects, amphibians, and mammals which never even come down to the forest floor.

A walk through the cloud forest of Monteverde can be an eerie experience. As the high clouds creep through the twisted trees and hanging vines around you, strange sounds fill the air. Strong winds and the added weight of water-laden epiphytes often cause branches to fall to the ground. This reduces the height of the cloud forest canopy and adds to the forest's gnarled appearance. Falling branches also create light gaps, allowing the growth of light tolerant plants and producing a constant mosaic of succession. A perfect place for hiking, bird watching, volunteering or do some research.

The community of Santa Elena borders the Monteverde Conservation area in the Cordillera de Tilarán of Central Costa Rica. Within this region of pristine cloud forest, three hundred and ten hectares ( seven hundred and sixty five acres) have been permanently leased by the administration of the Santa Elena community High School of Monteverde.

The original vision was to use this land for agricultural research and education in Monteverde. For a variety of reasons, however, the farming proved to be unsuccessful. In 1989, it was decided to convert the land into a cloud forest reserve. Together with Youth Challenge International, a Canadian based non-profit organization, the community established an eco-tourism reserve, which officially opened on March 1, 1992.

The reserve was created out of a community's determination to help preserve the unique cloud forest surrounding them and to use tourism as a tool to benefit community development in Monteverde. Entrance fees are used for the protection and management of the Reserve and to provide higher quality education for schools of Monteverde. If you want to visit this excelent place visit: Monteverde Lodge Costa Rica You will not disappoint.

Isla del Caño Biological Reserve

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The Isla del Caño lies 17 km. due west of Marenco. The island and its environs invite study from several points of view. It is Costa Rica's largest concentration of coral-building organisms along the Pacific. Schools of tangs, jacks and needlefish present an ever-changing panorama to those who venture below the surface. Boring sponges, Diadema sea urchins, sea cucumbers, many crustaceans and calcareous alga mats and balls add to the variety of life found among the Porites and Pocillopora corals of these reefs.

Marine life is abundant in the general vicinity of the island. Fishing boats take tuna, shrimp, shark, mackerel, snapper, and sardines in quantity. Manta rays are often seen breaching. Dolphins are encountered daily, and Olive Ridley sea turtles ( Lepidochelys olivacea) are commonly observed swimming and even mating as they travel to and from the sandy beaches of the peninsula where they lay their eggs. Humpback whales are seasonally present and often sighted from Marenco Beach & Rain Forest Lodge, and the Sierpe River. Although rich in marine resources, the area is little studied apart from the reefs of the Isla del Caño.

The island's forest and its inhabitants are in stark contrast to those on the mainland less than 11 miles away. The island has a resident insect fauna that is perhaps one percent as rich as that of the mainland. Moreover, the forest on this island is a curiously impoverished version of that on the mainland. The central plateau is a nearly nonspecific stand of Brosimum utile, the white latex, fruits, and seeds of which are readily edible to humans. Stone spheres and Indian graves found all over the island suggest that this was an ancient cemetery. The obviously heavy usage of the island by the aboriginal population, and the fact that Brosimum utile is never found in monospecific stands on the mainland indicate that the island may have been used as an orientation by the Indians, a plantation free of mainland herbivores and seed predators, such as agoutis, pacas, and insects. Whatever the origin of the present flora and fauna, the low species diversity if the island throws the richness of the peninsular plant and animal life into sharp relief. If you like to visit this beautiful place visit: Punta Marenco Lodge there you can find all the facilities and accomodations.

C o s t a R i c a A d v e n t u r e s

Monteverde Cloud Forest

Isla del Caño Biological Reserve