Travel Guide Parque Nacional Tapantí

Created in 1992, about 50 kilometers from San José, it was enlarged in 2000 with the addition of the Río Macho forest reserve, thus becoming one of the largest protected forests in the country. Between the 700 meters of altitude of Tapantí and the 3,491 meters of Cerro de la Muerte, the temperatures vary a lot, as do the ecosystems.The park occupies an area considered one of the wettest in Costa Rica with nearly 8,000 mm of annual rainfall. It protects a great ecological richness within five zones: lowland rainforest, mid-mountain rainforest, highland forest and páramo. The vegetation specific to the tropical mountains allows the habitat of animal species that take advantage of the immense biological corridor formed by the set of parks and reserves that extend south to Panama. The hydrological reserves are also enormous and guarantee almost 50% of the water supply of the San José agglomeration.On a purely practical level, the park is still not very developed and one can only really enjoy it in the Tapantí sector or in its periphery, such as in the vicinity of the Reserva Forestal Río Macho north of Cañón. The latter, founded in 1946, is one of the oldest protected areas in Costa Rica. For nearby lodging, see Orosí and Paraíso in the Central Valley. The Reserva Biológica Cerro Las Vueltas, on the Interamericana around kilometer 70, is not part of the Tapantí-Cerro de la Muerte National Park, but it is notable for being the northern limit of the Andean Paramó.Reserva Forestal Los Santos is a large protected area west of the Interamericana along the portion known as the "Route of the Saints. It covers almost 80% of the canton of Dota, whose name comes from the Quepos Ota cacique, one of the first to cross the mountain range. This region has suffered greatly from deforestation and it is here that we find the most motivation and involvement in movements dedicated to sustainable development. As far as the climate is concerned, one should expect a lot of rainfall in this region with cool temperatures due to the altitude (from 10 to 25°C from December to April and from 6 to 17°C from May to November).