Carara National Park
| Carara National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Entrance
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| Location | Costa Rica |
| Coordinates | 9°44′50″N 84°37′40″W / 9.74722°N 84.62778°WCoordinates: 9°44′50″N 84°37′40″W / 9.74722°N 84.62778°W |
| Area | 52 km2 |
| Established | 1978 |
| Governing body | National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) |
Carara National Park is a national park in the Central Pacific Conservation Area located near the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It was established on April 27, 1978 as a biological reserve, but its growing popularity after 1990 forced the government to upgrade its category to national park in November 1998.
Carara lies about 30 miles west of the Costa Rican capital of San José and about 15 miles north of the beach town of Jacó. The park protects the river basin of the River Tárcoles, near Orotina and includes one of the largest remaining populations of wild scarlet macaws in the country.
Carara National Park contains more primary rainforest than the relatively close Manuel Antonio National Park. As such, it is wetter than the more popular Manuel Antonio National Park, and has denser tree growth and more mosquitoes and other insects. This environment makes Carara a haven for many bird species making the park a popular birdwatching destination. In addition to scarlet macaws, birds found in Carara include orange-chinned parakeets and other parrots, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, motmots, jacamars, manakins, antbirds, and several species of trogon, including the black-throated trogon. Several species of water birds inhabit the park as well. These include the anhinga, several species of heron, egret and kingfishers.
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Wikipedia