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Rincon de la Vieja:
| The 1,916 m-high Rincón de La Vieja massif is a stratovolcano covering 400 km2 formed as a result of the simultaneous volcanic activity of various eruption points, which grew and became a single mountain. At the top, none eruption sites have been identified, one of them, Rincón de la Vieja is active, but the rest are in the process of erosive degradation. |
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Towards the south of the active crater there is a scenically very beautiful freshwater lagoon some 400 m long where Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii) go to drink. The last period of great activity occurred between 1966 and 1975, and the most recent eruptions took place in 1991 and 1995.
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At the foot of the volcano on the southern side is the area called Las Pailas, which covers 50 hectares. Here, there are thermal springs, solfatara lagoons, orifices where jets of steam rise up, and little mud volcanoes, where the mud is constantly bubbling due to the escaping steam and sulphurous gases.
The park contains different habitats appropriate to different altitudes. The top of the volcano is covered in ashes and there is little plant life. Near the top, the woodlands is low and the trees' thick branches are twisted and covered in mosses and epiphytes; the predominant species is the copey (Clusia rosea). |
In the intermediate parts between 800 m and 1.500 m the forest is dense and high. The trees include oak (Quercus oocarpa) and white cypress (Podocarpus macrostachyus) and manwood (Vitex cooperi). The vegetation of the northwest of the massif is characteristically representative of the Atlantic Basin forest up to 40 m high and with a sometimes very tangled undergrowth where palms predominate.
In this massif, 257 bird species have been recorded, including the three-wattled bellbird (Procnias tricarunculata) so called because of its strange strident metallic call. Some of the mammals present are the red brocket deer (Mazama Americana) and the northern tamandua (Tamandua mexicana); mammals abound in the upper reaches of the mountain. Among the numerous insects, four beautiful species of butterflies of the genus Morpho stand out. The park protects a great ecosystem of hydrographic basins, and the largest population of wild purple orchid (Cattleya skinneri) the national flower, is found there.
Rincón de la Vieja is one of the volcanoes of the Guanacaste Mountains. This park is divided into two sections: Pailas and Santa Maria. You can reach the park offices of the Pailas sector from Liberia via Panamerican Highway Quebrada Grande-Gongora (25 km) on paved and grit roads.
| The following paths can be taken: Pailas, Poza del Rio Blanco, Cataratas Escondidas, Cataratas La Cangreja, Pailas-Santa Maria, Rincon de la Vieja Crater and Cerro von Seebach. Near the offices, there is a camping area with tables, toilets and drinking water. The office of the Santa Maria Sector is in a former house next to which there is a mill You can get there via Libera and Barrio La Victoria as far as the park (25 km) along a grit track. |
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There are paths to El Colibri, Pailas de Agua Fria, Catarata Bosque Encantado, Aguas Termales and El Mirador. In the house there are exhibitions, and nearby, there are picnic and camping sites with tables, toilets and drinking water.
There are bus services between Liberia and Curubande and between Liberia and Colonia Blanca (which stops at the entrance to the Santa Maria Sector). In Liberia there are hotels, restaurants and markets; in Curubande and Colonia Blanca there are grocery shops, and near the park there are two hostels.
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