Travel To Costa Rica
Monteverde Cloud Forest
More than fifty areas in Costa Rica have been set aside by the government as national parks, reserves, and refuges. In addition, several areas are protected by individuals or not-for-profit foundations.
Thousands of tourists travel to Costa Rica each year to visit The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. The rich history of the Reserve begins in 1951 when some North American Quakers, mainly from Alabama, settled in a remote section of the Tilaran mountain range. At that time, there were no roads to facilitate travel to Costa Rica or within it, and it took several days by ox and cart to get to San Jose, which was about 112 miles away.
The immigrants cleared some land and built homes, a meetinghouse and a school. They soon found that the land was good for raising dairy cattle and within a few years they built their first cheese factory. Today, their cheese is sold all over the country, and it is also exported. The community dairy factory and shop are now very much a part of Costa Rican life.
In 1986, residents and those who did travel to Costa Rica as visiting conservationists founded the Monteverde Conservation League. It protects a large area of cloud forest, where the trees are almost permanently shrouded in mist. Streams and waterfalls tumble down the slopes, which are thick with mosses, ferns, bromeliads, lianas, epiphytic plants, vines orchids and many other colorful flowers unlike any you may have seen elsewhere.
Small frogs, spiders, leaf-cutting ants and may other insects live on the dark, damp forest floor where the air can be quite cold as there is almost no sunlight at all. More than 400 species of birds have also been found in the Monteverde, along with approximately 500 species of butterflies, 100 species of mammals, and more 2000 different kinds of plants.
Costa Rica - Places of Interest
