INCLUDES:

Transportation from your San Jose area hotel, refreshments on board, lunch, guided hike through park’s trails.

The park is located in the Orosi Valley, a 60-minute drive from San Jose. It is surrounded by the Macho River Forest Reserve.   The Orosi Valley by itself provides a breathtaking impression due to its evergreen mountains and very special scenery of the Rio Grande de Orosi runing through the center of the valley. The river provides hydroelectric power and drinking water for some areas of San Jose, and provides some great places to swim and picnic. Some 150 waterbasins unite to form the rivers’ trek to the sea from here in Orosi Valley.   In this area you can enjoy a very special 5 star hotel where you can enjoy a swimming pool of warm therapeutic waters from the volcano.  There are also other hotels in the area to choose from.

Tapanti has two “life zones”: lower montane rainforest (lower mountain slopes) and premontane rainforest (lowlands skirting the lower slopes). The forests are home to forty-five species of mammals, including tapir, paca, red brocket deer, eastern cottontail, kinkajou, raccoon, white-nosed coati, white-faced monkey, mountain hare (conejo de monte), agouti and such cats as ocelot, jaguarundi and tiger cat (an endangered species).

You’ll also find some 260 kinds of birds here: Quetzals, sparrow hawks, hawks, goldfinch, doves, hummingbirds, parrots, and falcons, etc. From the ranger’s cabin, a Quetzal nesting site can be seen.

There are twenty eight species of reptiles in the park, among them are lizards, basilisks and snakes such as “lora bocaraca.” In addition, there are twenty eight species of amphibians such as toads, frogs and salamanders.

The park is also home to a large variety of insects, many of which have never been properly catalogged. Keep your eyes open, you might catch a glimpse of the Thysania agripina, the largest butterfly found on the American continent.

The most common plants: oaks, magnolia, ira, poor man’s umbrella, bromeliads, “Luvia de oro” orchid, Panama Tree, Cafecillo, ferns, moss and orchids.