Costa Rica´s

The Palo Verde National Park is located in the Province of Guanacaste, among the Drinkable river and the river Tempisque; approximately 30 km al western of the city of Canes.  It was created by means of the Executive Decree Not. 11541-TO of May 30, of 1980 and ratified by the Law Not. 6831 of December 20, 1982.  Has an extension of 16.804 hectares.

The Palo Verde National Park is formed pour an assembly of diverse habitats of plain, delimited by rivers and a row of calcareous hills.

This area is holds to seasonal floods of great magnitude.  During the rainy station and owed al little drainage narural that has the plain, the area is flooded for effect of the action combined of the rain, the tides and the overflows of the rivers Tempisque and Drinkable.  In some occasions, all the zone becomes an immense gap.

The corrals and the old present buildings, they are a reflection of the life of the sabanero bajureño and they constitute a very important element in the cultural heritage of the old one Guanacaste.

Green stick is one of the places of greater ecological diversity of the country; approximately they exist 15 hábitats that are created for the topography, the conditions edáficas, including the drainage, the high current of the rivers and the effect of the tides.

Among these habitats they are found lagoons and freshwater and brackish swamps, the high grass with mangrove balance, the mangrove swamps, the pasturelands with chumico of stick or raspaguacal, the forests achaparrados of coastal fishing, the mixed forests deciduos of woodlands, the forests flooded and the forests always green.

One of the species more conspicuous and that gives name al place is the Palo Verde, a bush of leaves, branches and part of the trunk of light green color, that is found so much in the swamps as in other habitats.  Among the largest trees they are the espavel, the ciba, the pochote, the ron-ron, the cibo potbellied, the gayabón, the javillo, the cocobolo, the medlar and the Panama.  In the swamps species of aquatic plants can be observed like the tifa, the trista, the grass gamalote and the platanilla.

In the scolinas the cardones abound, endemic species for Costa Rica, the real lignum vitae exists also, tree of precious wood in serious danger of extinction.

The natural hydrologic system of GREEN Stick creates the conditions adequate so that be produced in the zone, the most important concentration of the country and of Central America of water birds and vadeadoras, so much resident as migratory.

From September to March, thousands of herons, waiters, egrets, zambullidores, íbises, ducks and gallitos of water they concentrate on the laguans and neighboring areas to be fed and to be reproduced.

The so much aquatic as terrestrial birds observed, they add 279 species, although this number would be able to rise to 300, since al except other 40 species, they have been observed in neighboring places.  The Island Birds, of 2.3 hectares located front al park, is of extraordinary importance by having the largest colony of the country, of the heron coroninegro and by being an area of anidación for the ibis morito, the duck needle, the pink heron, the waiter, the real heron and the little egret bueyera.

In the park, nests the gallant one without fortune, species in danger of extinction and subsists the only population of red limpets of the Pacific Dry.

Some of the most abundant mammals are the cute congo, the cute carablanca, the coatimundis, the deer, the red squirrels, the puercoespines and the coyotes.  In the Tempisque crocodiles have been observed of to five meters of long.

The National Park Tortuguero is found in the coast of the Caribbean, province of Limon, approximately 80km al northeastern of the city of the same name.  It was established by means of the Law Not. 5680 of November 17, 1975.  Counts on an area of 18.946.9 hectares in the terrestrial part and 52.265 in the marine part.

Is the most important area of all the western half of the Caribbean, for the spawning of the green tortoise.  Other species of marine tortoises that also spawn in the beach are the tortoise baula and the tortoiseshell.

The park is crossed for a sytem natural of gaps and navigable channels of great scenic beauty and they are the terrestrial tortoises species habitat, of the manatee or marine cow, of the crocodile, of great diversity of crustaceans and of some 52 species of freshwater fish, including the fish gaspar.

It was created to protect the flora and fauna of this region, as well as for facilitate investigations, scientific studies and to favor the environmental education.

Three zones of life exist: very humid tropical forest, forest mountaineer humid transition to basal and the humid tropical forest.  It includes eight types of greater associations (trees, bushes and herbs) and three smaller associations (herbs in its greater part).

The coastal vegetation with predominance of grasses, the humid forest with abundance of strata and vertical, sotobosque dense and various characterized by ferns, the palm white and several species of anonáceas, forests on hills, the yolillales, constituted mainly by the palm yolillo and located in the central sector of the park, herbaceous swamps formed by herbaceous plants of haste 2 meters of height and herbaceous communities on gaps with floating vegetation The choreja or lily of water; they are some of the most outstanding vegetable associations of the park.

Tortuguero is one of the rainiest zones of the country, between 5.000 and 6.000 mm al year.  Two types of rain can be distinguished: the local rainstorms of short term that are the most frequent, and the characteristic temporary of the Caribbean that are prolonged to 15 days.  These last they are caused by the winds of north and northwest.

The most characteristic species of flora are: the male cedar, the hawk, the pillar, the javillo black, the golden fruit, the manú, the maría, the camphor, the canfín, the cativo, the palm yolillo, the palm suita, the real palm and the choreja or lily of water.  The choreja forms at times so compact masses that can impede the navigation.

The fauna is rich and diverse.  Among the most outstanding one we find the tapir, the jaguar, the manigordo, the saíno, the cute congo, the cute one carablanca, the red monkey or spider, the lazy one, the tepescuinte, the coatimundi, the raccoon, hammers it, the otter, the tolomuco, the bat fisherman that is one of the largest of the country and is fed of fish that captures with its strong legs and nails when flies over on the surface of the Frog calf, the frog of glass reticulada whose internal organs are seen bias of its transparent skin; the poisonous frog or sapito red, whose skin is toxic.

Some of the birds protected they are the green limpet, species in danger of extinction, the peacock, the zopilote cabecirrojo, the hawk cangrejero, the trogón violáceo and the golden oriole of montezuma.  Besides, of the tortoise baula, the tortoiseshell and the green tortoise; the tortoise black turtle, is very common in the channels from Moín to Torguguero.

The National wildlife refuge of Caño Negro counts on an extension of 9.940 hectares.  It is located in the cantons of The Chile and Guatuso of the Province of Alajuela.

It conserves one of the samples of most important humid zones of our territory, considered of international importance by serving of shelter to great quantity of migratory species, species in v’ ace of extinciópn and species of imporancia commercial.

The gap of Caño Negro is a lake somero freshwater with an extension of 800 Has. and a desagëe of stagnant water of the adjacent Cold river and its tributary the river Mónica.

The area that understands the gap and its outskirts constitutye one of the most diverse biological areas and of vital importance for the maintenance of the environmental quality in the northern part of the country.

Besides, the area constitutes a habitat with great flora species variety and fauna and natural communities, many of them unique or in danger of extinction that do of the area a place of international importance, therefore they constitute, along with the humid zones al south of the Lake of Nicaragua, one of the smuestras of more outstanding humid zone of Mesoamerica.

This Refuge is source of alimenteo for north migratory birds.  Species of plants exist and animal that are found us in other parts of country, great abundance of birds and fish for the human consumption and is one of the few parts where the fish needle is found or gaspar.