| Barra Honda National Park |
| Places To See - Parks, Reserves and Protected Areas | |
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See North Pacific Tourism Region
About:Barra Honda is Costa Rica's only subterranean park. Visitors here stroll through a network of caverns created sixty million years ago when limestone reefs were thrust upward by tectonic forces which carved out two large and many smaller subterranean chambers. Nineteen caves have been explored so far. The largest is Santa Ana Cave, 240 meters (787 feet) deep. The most attractive are La Terciopelo, La Trampa, and La Santa Ana. In these caverns, visitors will be awed by the profusion of stalagmites, stalactites, pillars, cave earls, helicities, mushrooms, shark's teeth, chalk flowers and needles and other formations and features.
La Terciopelo Cave, for example, is
famous for the peculiar echoes created in its chambers. El Organo emits
different sounds when you knock softly on it. Nicoya Cave features The
Stinking Wheel where the caverns are perfumed by the scent of bat guano.
If
you're not up (or down) for this sort of adventure, you can sit back
and enjoy the sensational views of the Gulf of Nicoya and the wild
plum, gonzalo alves, tempisque, gumbo-limbo, and wild cotton trees
growing on the forest-covered hills, home to the white- faced monkey,
black vulture, yellow grasshopper, coyote, common long-nosed armadillo,
white-tailed deer, raccoon, and white-nosed coati.
Activities:Caving and hiking are popular. Advance reservations are required for spelunking. The rangers will guide you down the very steep decent into the Terciopleo cavern. If you're a caver, you need to hire a guide and rent equipment costing $17 to $25 per day. Make your arrangements in advance with the main office of the SPN in San José or in Bagaces, informing them of the date and approximate time of your arrival. Hikers must tell the rangers which trails they're taking and how long they plan to stay. If you've hired a guide, he will take care of these details for you. Camping inside the park costs $2. Picnic tables and drinking water are available.
Facilities:
There
is a ranger station where there are four rustic cabins with bunk beds
and camping facilities. Spelunking gear is available for rent from the
ranger station.
Trails:There are marked trails for hiking.Fees and Schedule:Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily
Getting There:From San José, go north on the Inter-American highway, cross over the Tempisque River bridge and continue for six miles. Turn right towards the villages of Barra Honda and Nacaome (aka Santa Ana) and follow the signs to the park entrance. The ranger station is one-half mile up from the gate on a decent gravel road. (Gate closes at dusk; four-wheel drive not required.)Leaving Nicoya Peninsula: Drive through Santa Cruz along the Inter-American from Liberia, or take the Tempisque ferry. Some buses between San Jose and Nicoya take this ferry, while others take the longer route. The Tempisque Ferry carries cars and passengers across the river between Puerto Moreno at Nicoya Carmona road and a point west of the Inter-American highway. Crossing here will save you 110 km. (68 mi.) Eastbound crossing take place every half hour from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Westbound crossings take place every hour on the hour from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The trip takes 20 minutes. A word of warning: On weekends and holidays, the traffic gets a little crazy here. You may wait for up to four hours to get your car on the ferry. Bring a book. Back to Top Where to Stay:Most people stay in Nicoya.
Contact:ACT: Tempisque Conservation Area
(506) 659-9194 Back to Top |
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