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Corcovado
National Park:
Travel
to Costa Rica
Among tropical biologists and naturalists
the name "Corcovado" has taken on almost mythical significance.
The fabled reputation of this vast tract of tropical
rain forest (41,788 ha.) is not without justification.
The forests themselves, especially those
on the ridges and hillsides, have a natural magnificence
about them that inspires reverence. Many of the largest
trees that grow to heights of 50 meters or more sport
enormous buttresses around their bases. Upon close inspection,
a botanist could discover as many as 100 different species
of trees on any given hectare in this habitat. And that's
just trees! Consider all of the varied kinds of vines,
shrubs, and epiphytes and you've got an incredibly diverse
flora.
Such varied plant life forms the base
for a tremendously diverse fauna, from insects on up.
For example, it has been estimated that as many as 10,000
insect species may inhabit Corcovado, and researchers
have identified 42 species of frogs, 28 species of lizards,
123 species of butterflies, and 16 species of hummingbirds.
All six species of felines found in Costa Rica are known
to exist in this wilderness area, as are the four native
species of monkeys. Additionally, Corcovado supports
the country's largest populations of White-lipped Peccaries
and Scarlet Macaws, both greatly endangered species
due to loss of habitat and hunting or trapping by man.
This great biological diversity still
exists in Corcovado because of its remoteness and the
fact that most of the park has suffered relatively little
disturbance by humans in the past.
For serious backpackers, Corcovado offers
a trail system (although much of this is along hot,
open beaches) between the six different ranger stations
where you can camp with prior permission.
Admission policy: If you are
interested in staying overnight at any of the park ranger
stations, prior permission and reservations are necessary
and can be obtained through the park headquarters in
Puerto Jiménez (Phone: 735-5036).
Getting there: The quickest and
easiest way to get into Corcovado National Park is to
fly in a single-engine charter plane and land at the
Sirena ranger station airstrip. This is a truly memorable
experience in itself, unfortunately, it is also relatively
expensive. Flights to Sirena can be arranged with any
of several companies at the Pavas airport (west of San
José) or at the airport in Golfito.
Perhaps the best way to visit Corcovado
without really roughing it is to stay at one of the
nature lodges in the Drake's Bay area. From these lodges
day trips can be made (by boat) to the northwestern
sector of the park at San Pedrillo. The lodge or your
travel agency can make arrangements for you to fly to
the Palmar airport on a regularly scheduled commercial
flight, be driven to the town of Sierpe, and then taken
by boat through a large mangrove system and out the
mouth of the Sierpe River into the ocean and across
to Drake's Bay -- something of an adventure in its own
right.
The other alternatives for those with
backpacks are to get to the towns of La Palma or Puerto
Jiménez on the Golfo Dulce side of the Osa Peninsula
and hike into the interior of the park, or continue
all the way around the tip of the peninsula to the settlement
of Carate and hike into the park along the beach.
Fishing: Several of the lodges
in the Drake's Bay area offer the option of deep-sea
fishing. The region is particularly well-known for its
abundance of Wahoo, Roosterfish, and Pacific Cubera
Snapper, but billfish and tuna are also out there.
Climate: If it weren't for the
high heat and humidity and more than four meters of
average annual rainfall, this area wouldn't have rain
forest. The driest months of the year are February,
March, and April, the wettest are September and October.
History: In the mid-1930's, when
settlement of the country's southern Pacific region
was being spurred by the development of banana plantations,
hunters that ventured into this area discovered gold
nuggets along several of the rivers that cut through
the hilly southern portion of what is today Corcovado
National Park. The resulting "gold fever" brought numerous
fortune-seekers into the areas known as Madrigal and
Carate, where this activity in the form of placer mining
can still be seen outside of the park limits.
When the park was created in 1975, the
few miners that were working inside the newly formed
boundaries were permitted to stay since their activities
were seen as being beneficial to the national economy.
However, the number of miners in the park continued
to increase (and so did damage to the stream ecosystems
and the larger species of wildlife -- read: "fresh meat")
until in 1986 there were some 1,000 people involved.
The situation had gotten so out of hand that the park
was closed to the public for several months while the
rangers, assisted by hundreds of rural policeman from
throughout the country, evicted the miners.
That drastic action has not totally
solved the problem, but the incidence of illegal gold
mining inside the park is much less now.
The park owes its existence to the international
scientific community's concern for tropical rain forest
conservation. Since its inception, the National Park
Service had been interested in including this expansive
and ecologically invaluable tract of forest in the park
system, but unfortunately, funding and public opinion
did not permit the purchase of such a remote piece of
land.
However, in 1975, several potentially
critical problems came to the government's attention.
An increase in the number of families homesteading in
this part of the Osa Peninsula, the threat of a large-scale
logging operation by an international lumbering consortium
that held title to much of the area's land, and reports
of excessive hunting, caused the region to become a
matter of concern.
Foreign scientists who had worked in
this wonderfully diverse habitat petitioned the then-President,
the late Daniel Oduber, to take measures to protect
this national resource. They were also of great help
in obtaining international donations to fund part of
the land acquisition necessary to get the squatters
and the lumber company to leave the area. But in the
end it was the interest with which President Oduber
himself attended to the situation that made Corcovado
National Park a reality and earned him the Albert Schweitzer
award from the Animal Welfare Institute for his efforts.
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