Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [37]
While the female scarlet macaw sits on her nest, the male regurgitates food for her to eat, and later does the same for their chicks.
If you can’t make it to one of the areas above, check out the fantastic orchid gardens at Jardín de Orquídeas or Lankester Gardens, which is near Cartago and home to more than 800 types of orchids.
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NATIONAL PARKS & PROTECTED AREAS
The national-park system began in the 1960s, and has since been expanded into a National Conservation Areas System with an astounding 186 protected areas, including 32 national parks, eight biological reserves, 13 forest reserves and 51 wildlife refuges. At least 10% of the land is strictly protected and another 17% is included in various multiple-use preserves. Costa Rican authorities enjoy their claim that more than 27% of the country has been set aside for conservation, but multiple-use zones still allow farming, logging and other exploitation, so the environment within them is not totally protected.
For maps and descriptions of the national parks, go to www.costarica-nationalparks.com.
Travelers will be surprised to learn that, in addition to the system of national preserves, there are hundreds of small, privately owned lodges, reserves and haciendas (estates) that have been set up to protect the land, and many of these are well worth visiting.
Although the national-park system appears glamorous on paper, a report a few years ago from the national conservation body (Sinac; Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservación) amplified the fact that much of the protected area is, in fact, at risk. The government doesn’t exactly own all of this land – almost half of the areas are in private ownership – and there isn’t a budget to buy it. Technically, the private lands are protected from development, but there have been reports that many landowners are finding loopholes in the restrictions and selling or developing their properties, or taking bribes from poachers and illegal loggers in exchange for access to their lands.
On the plus side is a project by Sinac that links national parks and reserves, private reserves and national forests into 13 conservation areas. This strategy has two major effects. First, these so-called megaparks allow greater numbers of individual plants and animals to exist. Second, the administration of the national parks is delegated to regional offices, allowing a more individualized management approach in each area. Each conservation area has regional and subregional offices delegated to provide effective education, enforcement, research and management, although some regional offices play what appear to be only obscure bureaucratic roles.
Although many of the national parks were expressly created to protect Costa Rica’s habitats and wildlife, a few parks preserve other resources such as the country’s foremost pre-Columbian ruins at Monumento Nacional Arqueológico Guayabo, an important cave system at Parque Nacional Barra Honda and a series of geologically active and inactive volcanoes in several parks and reserves.
Most national parks can be entered without permits, though a few limit the number they admit on a daily basis and others require advance reservations for accommodations within the park’s boundaries (Chirripó, Corcovado and La Amistad). The average entrance fee to most parks is US$10 per day for foreigners, plus additional fees for overnight camping where permitted.
The tallest tree in the rainforest is usually the silk-cotton tree, or the ceiba. The most famous example is a 70m elder in Corcovado.
Many national parks are in remote areas and are rarely visited – they also suffer from a lack of rangers and protection. Others are extremely – and deservedly – popular for their world-class scenic and natural beauty, as well as their wildlife. During the ’90s in the idyllic Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio, a tiny park on the Pacific coast, the number of