San Gerardo de Dota

Introducing San Gerardo de Dota

The banks of the Río Savegre were long protected by the steep flanks of the Talamanca mountains, prohibiting settlement in this area. It was not until 1952 that Efrain Chacón and his brothers – driven by drought – made their way south from Copey de Dota and established a farm on the western slopes of Cerro de la Muerte – which would become the village of San Gerardo.

In the early days, they planted cubano beans, a typical subsistence crop in this region. That’s as far as the Chacón family followed the typical trend, however. Eschewing coffee (which would not thrive at these high altitudes) and beef cattle (which would destroy the surrounding cloud forest), the Chacón family instead raised dairy cattle.

Later, they supplemented dairy-farm activity by stocking their streams with trout and planting apple orchards and other fruit trees. The former had the effect of attracting anglers from San José, while the latter (along with the wild avocado trees that were abundant) attracted the resplendent quetzal, in turn attracting birders. As tourism in Costa Rica flourished, so did San Gerardo.

Today this little farming village has become famous for highland birding. Quetzals are spotted frequently every April and May (during breeding season), but are seen all year. Indeed, San Gerardo is the easiest access point to the Parque Nacional Los Quetzales.

The trout fishing in the Río Savegre is good: the seasons are May and June for fly-fishing and December to March for lure-fishing. And the Chacón family, now several generations deep, operates the well-established Savegre Hotel de Montaña on the grounds of its productive farm, while other facilities have sprung up around the village.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009