Overview
Scenic beauty fills Costa Rica, and there is no better place to see it than on a visit to Arenal Volcano National Park. The park includes part of Lake Arenal, on which we took a boat cruise to our hotel in Monte Verde.
The National Park is located in the North-Central part of Costa Rica. About 90 miles north of the capital city of San Jose. Centered on the city ofย Monteverdeย (Beautiful mountain in Spanish), and known for its Cloud Forests, this part of Costa Rica is tourist-friendly. Cloud forests differ from rainforestsย because they occur at higher altitudes and receive moisture from clouds and fog that cover them almost constantly. Cloud Forests are also a bit cooler, mainly due to their higher altitude.
Like almost all of Costa Rica, this part of the country is filled with flora and fauna of all sizes and types. The most common insect we saw was the leaf-cutter ant. As you walked on a trail, you would see a line of leaf pieces move across the trail. Look closely, and you would see ants carrying them. No, we weren’t bothered by mosquitoes.
As for animals, the sloth was the most common in the National Park. You have to always be looking at the trees to find one of these elusive animals. I am not a birder, so I have no idea about birds, except which ones I think are pretty. But I was told there are over 400 species of birds in the park. I have no idea how many countless species of plants are in the forest. I can’t even tell the different trees apart, let alone the hundreds of orchids we could have seen.
Our Visit to the Park
I will cover the cloud forests in another article; watch for it. This article is just about our time in the Arenal Volcano National Park. We got off our bus at what was called the Official Administration Offices for the Arenal Volcano National Park. I don’t know if it is the head office for the whole park, or for just this part, known as the Peninsula.
We followed a well-maintained packed gravel trail around one to two miles until we reached the scenic viewing area known as Mirador Lake Arenal. Our tour boat was tied to the shore there. We scrambled aboard. The boat took us on a leisurely trip across the lake. Not a lot of details, just watching the shore roll by. It was probably the least favorite day of my tour.
Conclusion
This visit to the National Park was just one day on my ten-day tour of Costa Rica with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). There is a link below the image gallery to get more details.
By looking at my content on this site, you will notice that I travel a lot in deserts or other dry areas. That’s because I don’t like forests or humidity. However, I was impressed by Costa Rica’s scenic beauty. The dense forests were great to visit and explore. But as the old saying goes, “But I won’t want to live there.” Everyone I talked to before the trip had told me how wonderful the country is and how much I would enjoy it.
However, to me, an even better part of visiting Costa Rica was the people. That’s for another article.
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