Guanacaste

Cacao Station: 1100 mts above sea level at the Cacao Volcano Maritza Station: 600 mts above sea level at the soutern foot of Orosí Volcano. Pitilla Station: at the moist slopes of the Caribbean side of Orosí Volcano, 8 km southwest of Santa Cecilia, which is located 22 kms est of the Liberia - La Cruz higway.

The lowland fauna and flora of this 35,000 hectares big park is similar to the Santa Rosa National Park. But at it extends in natural succession from 200 mts above sealevel to 1659 metres into the Guanacaste mountainranges with its rainforests and very moist forests and pasture lands. It is estimated that is houses 2,250 plant species, 125 species of birds, 25 mammal species, and 1800 species of insects. The wildlife on the moist and very moist volcanic slopes of Orosí include howler and white-faced capuchin monkeys, tapirs, ground sloths, jaguars, collared peccaries and three-wattled bellbirds, among others. The middle ground provides a refuge for curassows, white tailed deer, and the tropical rattlesnake, fer-de-lance and the rat-eating snake.

The Guanacaste National Park is is a region of scenic beauty, panoramic trails, volcanoes, raging rivers, heavy rains, winds and biological stations. the latter provide facilities for scientists and ecotourists.

The Cacao Station has no access road. the nearest road ends at Góngora Station, on the river with the same name, 550 metres above sea level on the Quebrada Grande-Hacienda La Perla Trail. From here one must walk or ride (6kms). The path from Quebrada Grande, which has hot springs, is truly picturesque: it winds through meadows and groves of pea-tree, bastard cedar, ear tree, masicaran and shoemaker's tree. The forest serves as refuge for mammals such as the armadillo, white tailed dear and Eastern Cotton Tail Rabbit; for birds such as the Magpie Jays, Yellow Crowned Parrots and Large-Billed Hawks; and for snakes such as the Fer-de-lance and Dark Brown Snake.

Guanacaste National Park forms part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area, a terretory of 104,000 hectares that also include Santa Rosa National Park, Rincón de La Vieja National Park, Bolaños Island Wildlife Refuge, Junquillal Bay Recreation Area and Horizontes Experimental Station. For more information call the Park Headquarters at Santa Rosa.