Costa Rica Info

This is a list of Costa Rica National Parks available to visit by the general public.

1 Santa Rosa National Park2 Guanacaste National Park 3 Las Baulas Marine National Park & Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge 4 Cabo Blanco Absolute National Reserve 5 Barra Honda National Park 6 Palo Verde National Park 7 Lomas Barbudal Biologic Reserve 8 Ostional National Wildlife Refuge 9 Carara National Park 10 Manuel Antonio National Park 11 Ballena National Park 12 Isla del Caño Biologic Reserve 13 Corcovado National Park 14 Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge 15 Cahuita National Park 16 Tortuguero National Park 17 Barra del Colorado National Wildlife Refuge 18 Caño Negro National Wildlife Refuge 19 Rincón de la Vieja National Park 20 Arenal National Park 21 Volcán Poás National Park 22 Braulio Carrillo National Park 23 Volcán Irazú National Park 24 Guayabo National Monument 25 Orosi (Tapantí) National Park 26 La Amistad International Park 27 Hitoy-Cerere Biologic Reserve 28 Chirripó National Park 29 Golfito National Wildlife Refuge 30 Isla Bolaños National Wildlife Refuge 31 Islas Guayabo, Negritos and Pájaros Biologic Reserves 32 Curú National Wildlife Refuge 33 Juán Castro Blanco National Park 34 Isla del Coco National Park (World Heritage status)

Costa Rica National Parks and Wildlife Reserves

Costa Rica is a small country in Central America that has a geographical position between 8 and 11 degrees north of the equator, consisting in about 51,100 square kilometers of land bordering Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south.

The country is crossed by an Extension of the Andes-Sierra madre chain on Volcanos and is part of what has been called the pacific rim of fire. The costarican terrain has been divided into four mountanous ranges (locally called Cordilleras) and are known as the Tilaran and Guanacaste Cordilleras to the north and the Central and Talamancan to the southern part of the country. Costa Rica has actually 112 Volcanos and a whole myriad of dormant and extinct cones, but actually only 7 are active. Minor and half strenght earthquackes are a common ocurrancy, but big earthquakes are rare and far between. All of this volcaninc activity also gave rise to a lot of naturally happening hot water springs, specially located near the Arenal Volcano. Other interesting fact is that the Irazu Volcano is the highest one and that the Arenal and Poas Volcano are the most active. Around the 1950’s most of the areas containing and surrounding all the volcanoes in the country were turned into national parks of Costa Rica, which has helped the country to thrive as a rich eco-tourism destination with lots of sight seeing in flora and fauna alike.

Costa Rica ’s active volcanoes are the Rincón de la Vieja, Poas (written Poás with an accent in spanish), Arenal (which also has a very cool lake suitable for sport fishing), Turrialba and Irazu (also written with an accent in spanish Irazú). Interestingly enough none of this volcanoes is the highest point in the country, which lies at the top of Mount Chirripo some 3,797 meters or roughly 12460 feet above sea level.

Costa Rica is a peace loving small country with no army. Costa Rica is a democratic nation actually divided into 7 provinces with San Jose being the capital. Heredia, Alajuela and Cartago are the next most populated provinces still in the central valley. Guanacaste and Puntarenas are on the pacific side of the Costa Rica and the Atlantic side there is the province of Limon, which displays a lot of Caribbean and African influence.