Parque Internacional la Amistad

Introducing Parque Internacional la Amistad

This huge 1950-sq-km park is by far the largest single protected area in Costa Rica. It is known as an international park because it continues across the border into Panama, where it is managed separately. The Panamanian side of the park is another 2070 sq km.

The backbone of this park is the Cordillera de Talamanca, which not only includes the peaks of the Chirripó massif but has many mountains higher than 3000m. The thickly forested northern Caribbean slopes and southern Pacific slopes of the Talamancas are also protected in the park, but it is only on the Pacific side that ranger stations are found.

Combined with two adjoining national parks and a host of indigenous and biological reserves, La Amistad is part of a huge biological corridor protecting a great variety of tropical habitats. Above 3200m, the landscape is characterized by the shrubby, stunted vegetation of the páramo, while slightly lower altitudes yield impressive oaks and the thick vegetation of the cloud forest. The lowlands of the Talamanca valley are fertile rain forest – a canopy of cedar, cypress and oak trees, with a thick undergrowth of palms, ferns and epiphytes.

This diversity of altitude and habitat creates unprecedented biological diversity, thus attracting the attention of ecologists and conservationists worldwide. In 1982 Unesco declared La Amistad to be a Biosphere Reserve, and in 1983 it was given the status of a World Heritage Site.

The park has the nation’s largest population of Baird’s tapirs, as well as giant anteaters, all six species of neotropical cats – jaguar, puma (mountain lion), margay, ocelot, oncilla (tiger cat) and jaguarundi – and many more-common mammals. In excess of 500 bird species have been sighted (more than half of the total in Costa Rica); 49 of these exist only within the biosphere reserve. In addition, 115 species of fish and 215 different reptiles and amphibians have been listed. There are innumerable insect species.

Besides the countless animal species, La Amistad is also home to five different indigenous reservations for the Cabécar and Bribrí groups. These tribes originally inhabited lands on the Caribbean coast (and many still do). But over the past century, they have migrated west into the mountains and as far as the Pacific coast. It is possible to visit the Cabécar via the Reserva Biológica Dúrika, and the Bribrí via ATEC in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca.

Within the park, tourist infrastructure is almost nonexistent, which means trekkers are limited to specific areas and/or the services of guides.

Last updated: Oct 20, 2009