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Cannopy A growing number of tours let visitors explore the rain forest canopy's high-altitude ecosystems, a luxuriant and little-known realm that is home to most of the jungle's plant and animal species. Ecologists started only two decades ago to seriously study these high-altitudes, using sophisticated devices as mountain climbing equipment and construction cranes, that tourists now have the chance to use to cross the biological frontier.
Those chances include from boarding an aerial tram that goes through the tree tops of a tropical forest, over 100 feet above the jungle floor. All those tours offer a monkey's-eye view of the rain forest canopy, where thick branches serve as platforms, and an incredible diversity of smaller plants, and such animals as tree frogs, vine snakes, sloths, and hundreds of bird species can be seen.
Adventurous travelers may want to try one of the more rustic canopy tours, which entail strapping on a mountain climbing harness and pulling yourself along suspended cables to a series of small wooden platforms built in the tops of trees. Several private biological reserves also have platforms in the canopies of large trees, where people are hoisted up to. One private reserve even has a small hotel room built in the top of a tree, for those who want to spend a night in the canopy.
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Rain Forest's Aerial Tram
The Rain Forest's Aerial Tram – Caribbean is a Private Reserve of 1174 acres (475 hectares), located only 50 minutes from San José and 5 kilometers after Río Sucio's bridge, on the Braulio Carrillo highway heading to the province of Limón.
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The property has a shared limit of 10 Km. with the northern border of Braulio Carrillo National Park and is a buffer zone between the park and land devoted to agricultural production.
Visitants are welcomed, upon arrival, by its personnel, who will invite them to board the transport, which is hauled by a caterpillar tractor from the front desk to the video room on the visitors' area. A short stop will be made half way, to enjoy the scenic view from the Brocoli Tree viewpoint.
After presentation of a short introductory video of the park, visitors are guided to the boarding area of the aerial tram, whose main idea is showing them the different forest levels, including tree canopies – level which is most difficult to reach, and to this moment that part of forest least known to scientists.
On the trails, the very heart of the rainforest can be appreciated; there is a great biodiversity of plant and animal species. A simple stroll through the trails and a ride in the aerial tram are an excellent combination to know and value the rainforest from the ground up to the tree tops.
Bird Watching
Costa Rica has long been famous among serious bird watchers, but many people who would never consider the activity at home quickly have become interested in the country's spectacular avian diversity.
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With almost 850 species of birds -more than total of what North America has- packed into an area half the size of Kentucky, it's hard not to become enthused about the variety of feathered creatures one encounters in Costa Rica. And the country's travel agencies can provide experienced nature guides who make any bird watching expedition an educational experience.
One of the reasons for Costa Rica's extraordinary bird life is the country's great variety of habitats: rain forests, mangrove swamps, beaches, cloud forest, rivers, etc. And any two of those ecosystems, with their resident bird species, are often only a short distance apart.
Birders from North America who visit Costa Rica during the northern winter invariably recognize familiar faces in the forest, since many species of warblers, flycatchers, vireos, orioles, etc. migrate to Costa Rica every winter.
Rivers and Lakes
Copious rainfall has endowed Costa Rica with an abundance of rivers, but surprisingly, there are very few lakes. Nearly all the country's rivers begin in the mountains, where many are frothy white water routes perfect for rafting and kayaking.
Once those rivers flow into the lowlands, however, they become languid waterways, many of which are lined with verdant walls of vegetation. Those lowland rivers are excellent routes for small boat trips, which allow passengers to observe some of the local flora and fauna.
The seasonal lake of Cano Negro is also an excellent spot for wildlife watching, whereas larger Arenal Lake is a popular windsurfing spot.
The most popular lowland waterway trip heads up the Caribbean Canals, which run along the Atlantic coast north from the port of Moin to the communities of Parismina, Tortuguero, and Barra del Colorado. Most travelers go to Tortuguero National Park, which protects an important sea turtle nesting beach and vast expanses of lowland rainforest and swampy Raffia palm forests.
A trip down any stretch of the canals is a true jungle adventure, offering opportunities to spot such animals as crocodiles, three-toed sloths, oropendolas and boat-billed herons. They also offer world-class tarpon, snook fishing (and other species). |
Forests
The country's forests sometimes seem like the biological equivalent of a cathedral; those giant tropical trees have the appearance of columns, and its canopies that house a collection of epyphitic plants are far more complex than the paintings on Sistine Chapel Ceiling. Mother Nature seems to work overtime in the tropics, and biologists classified the consequent diversity of forests into a dozen different life zones.
However, most of those forests can be lumped into three more general groups: rain, cloud and dry forests. Rain forests, with their massive trees, very high canopies and little growing on the dimly lit forest floor, can be found in the Atlantic lowlands and southwest. The northwest contains some of the last remnants of the tropical dry forest, a less exuberant life zone that shares much of the diversity of the rain forests. Cloud forests, which cover the upper slopes of most mountains and volcanoes, are the most luxuriant of the tropical forests, with mosses and other small plants covering the trunks and branches of trees. They are all beautiful, and in many ways similar, but each one has plants and animals that won't be found in the rest of them.
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Geography
Rugged highlands are found throughout most of the country, ranging from approximately 1,000 to 2,000 meters (3,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level). The Guanacaste Mountain Range, Central Mountain Range, and Talamanca Mountain Range are the main mountain ranges extending the entire length of the country. There are several active volcanoes (Arenal Volcano, Irazu Volcano, Rincon de la Vieja Volcano and Turrialba Volcano) and the country's highest mountain (Chirripo Hill) with a height of 3,819 m/12,530 ft. The country has a relatively long coastline in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as a number of rivers and streams that attract specialist kayakers and rafters from all over the world.
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