Santa Rosa National Park
9/22/2009 – 9/24/2009
Driving south along the Panamerican Highway, just 45 kilometers into Costa Rica lies the Santa Rosa National Park. This UNESCO World Heritage Site protects 38,800 terrestrial hectares and 43,000 marine hectares. Having sold the boat in Belize, we limited our visit to the landward component of the park.
Excited by the prospect of national park camping and hiking freely and un-guided we paid our park admission of $10 US per person and committed to two nights camping at a rate of $2 US per person per night. There are three camping areas in the Santa Rosa sector of the national park, but really only one is accessible with the van. This camping area is located at the end of a 7 kilometer, paved access road in the vicinity of the park administration offices, commissary and park housing for resident researchers. We pulled into the shaded camping area complete with picnic tables, cooking areas, sinks, and (not entirely sanitary) “servicios sanitarios” wondering if we had gotten lost and landed in Canada. What a treat to be truly camping again.
The camping area at Santa Rosa National Park
Santa Rosa National Park contains a significant area of dry tropical forest, which differs substantially from the cloud and wet tropical forests that are more common throughout Central America. This is not to say the area is dry, for we got caught in a hard, sustained downpour on our afternoon walk. The designation of dry tropical forest is more indicative of seasonal differences, in that the dry forests are much more deciduous, losing most of their foliage in the dry season. Anyway, it is the wet season and we got wet on our trek from the camping area along the 13 kilometer trail to Naranjo Beach. We abbreviated our hike to 7 kilometers and settled for the Valle Naranjo Mirador with spectacular views of the Playa Naranjo coastline and Witch Rock. The beaches in Santa Rosa are accessible by 4WD vehicle but the road is pretty treacherous and we would only recommend it in a rental!
Valle Naranjo Trail, Santa Rosa National Park
Playa Naranjo and Witch Rock, Santa Rosa National Park
To us, the most impressive aspect of Santa Rosa was the abundance of wildlife. White-faced or capuchin monkeys (Cebus caucinus), congo howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata), white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and coati-mundis (Nasua narica) can be spotted at every turn. The bird life is no less spectacular as we were able to spot trogons (Trogon spp.), lineated woodpeckers (Dryocopus lineatus), and guans (Penelopina sp.) from our campsite.
Capuchin monkey
Coati-mundi
Capuchin monkey
Driving south along the Panamerican Highway, just 45 kilometers into Costa Rica lies the Santa Rosa National Park. This UNESCO World Heritage Site protects 38,800 terrestrial hectares and 43,000 marine hectares. Having sold the boat in Belize, we limited our visit to the landward component of the park.
Excited by the prospect of national park camping and hiking freely and un-guided we paid our park admission of $10 US per person and committed to two nights camping at a rate of $2 US per person per night. There are three camping areas in the Santa Rosa sector of the national park, but really only one is accessible with the van. This camping area is located at the end of a 7 kilometer, paved access road in the vicinity of the park administration offices, commissary and park housing for resident researchers. We pulled into the shaded camping area complete with picnic tables, cooking areas, sinks, and (not entirely sanitary) “servicios sanitarios” wondering if we had gotten lost and landed in Canada. What a treat to be truly camping again.
The camping area at Santa Rosa National Park
Santa Rosa National Park contains a significant area of dry tropical forest, which differs substantially from the cloud and wet tropical forests that are more common throughout Central America. This is not to say the area is dry, for we got caught in a hard, sustained downpour on our afternoon walk. The designation of dry tropical forest is more indicative of seasonal differences, in that the dry forests are much more deciduous, losing most of their foliage in the dry season. Anyway, it is the wet season and we got wet on our trek from the camping area along the 13 kilometer trail to Naranjo Beach. We abbreviated our hike to 7 kilometers and settled for the Valle Naranjo Mirador with spectacular views of the Playa Naranjo coastline and Witch Rock. The beaches in Santa Rosa are accessible by 4WD vehicle but the road is pretty treacherous and we would only recommend it in a rental!
Valle Naranjo Trail, Santa Rosa National Park
Playa Naranjo and Witch Rock, Santa Rosa National Park
To us, the most impressive aspect of Santa Rosa was the abundance of wildlife. White-faced or capuchin monkeys (Cebus caucinus), congo howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata), white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and coati-mundis (Nasua narica) can be spotted at every turn. The bird life is no less spectacular as we were able to spot trogons (Trogon spp.), lineated woodpeckers (Dryocopus lineatus), and guans (Penelopina sp.) from our campsite.
Capuchin monkey
Coati-mundi
Capuchin monkey
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