Travel Guide Parque Internacional La Amistad

La Amistad International Park is the largest animal and plant protection area in Central America. Why the name La Amistad? In fact, under the same name, it gathers several Costa Rican parks such as Chirripó in the northwest, the Tapantí refuge near Cartago, the Hitoy-Cerere park on the Atlantic side, some indigenous reserves and its natural extension in Panama. Under the supervision of a common administration of the La Amistad-Talamanca conservation area, assisted by some international organizations, 193,900 hectares are strictly protected, and nothing can be undertaken there, not even an access road.In all, nearly 400,000 hectares - 40 times the size of Paris - with the addition of the Panamanian side, are a sort of transition zone where development projects are studied, such as the hydroelectric exploitation of the rivers of the Cordillera de Talamanca or the establishment of areas of ecological cultivation with the utmost respect for the balance of the ecosystems. It includes nine of the twelve ecosystems recognized by the Holdridge System (analysis and classification of the planet's natural systems).Declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1982 by UNESCO, then a World Heritage Site in 1983, this immense space, essentially covered by tropical forests, presents the major interest of being in a relatively good state. One could even observe there intact traces of the telluric movements of the ice age. What a great example of agreement between nations (Costa Rica and Panama) on a "non-commercial" subject, an intelligent agreement if there is one, since it is the physical and timeless biological bridge between North and South America!The park ranges in elevation from 1,000 meters (approximate park boundaries) to almost 4,000 meters. In fact, it includes many peaks over 3,000 meters (Cerro Chirripó 3,819 m - the highest in Costa Rica -, Cerro Terbi 3,760 m, Cerro Kámuk 3,554 m, Cerro Cuericí 3,394 m, Cerro Urán 3,333 m, Cerro Dúrika 3,280 m). There is a multitude of habitats whose variety is due to the topography, the nature of the soil and the climate. The Andean paramo is certainly the most remarkable example. This low forest, which grows only from 3,000 meters above sea level, is here mainly made up of a variety of bamboo, the batamba.Further down, the mixed tropical forests are home to oaks, cypresses and cedars, the highest. Ceibas (cheeses) reach 50 meters and more, piercing the thick canopy of the rainforest like ventilation shafts. In the wettest areas, such as the valleys carved by the rivers, the vegetation, already almost impenetrable, is thickened by the sombrilla del pobre, "the poor man's umbrella", which resembles a rhubarb leaf, only much larger. The fauna includes more than two thirds of the animals found in Costa Rica, especially those that need a large territory to hunt, such as the puma or the jaguar and other felines of the tropics such as the ocelot, the jaguarundi or the margay.