Montana de Comayagua National Park

The Montaña de Comayagua rises on the eastern side of the Comayagua valley and catches enough moisture to hold cloud forest above around fifteen hundred metres, over pine and oak lower down. The escarpment is cut by streams that drop off it in a series of falls, and those streams supply Comayagua city. Trails run up from the villages on the western side, and the forest is quiet enough that mammals are seen more often than in the parks closer to the highways.

Background

The park was established on 1 January 1987 and covers 184.8 square kilometres; locally it goes by its Spanish name or the acronym PANACOMA. From Comayagua the road north towards La Libertad leads to San Jerónimo, where a signed dirt road turns off towards Río Negro, a mostly single lane track that needs a four wheel drive with good clearance. The park information centre is in the village of Río Negro, and hiking guides can be hired there. Among its many waterfalls, the Cascada de los Ensueños on the Río Gavilán drops 50 metres at the end of a good trail, about an hour's walk from the trailhead on the Río Negro road.

Source: Wikipedia, "Montaña de Comayagua National Park"

The landscape

• The cloud forest - wet montane forest above the pine belt on the escarpment.
• The waterfalls - streams dropping off the western edge in several stages.
• The pine and oak zone - the drier forest on the approach slopes.
• The valley view - Comayagua and its valley from the western ridge.

When to go

November to April is the drier season for the trails. Rain is possible year-round in the upper forest. Mornings are best before cloud fills the escarpment.

What to expect

Access roads to both entrances are rough and need a high-clearance vehicle. Trails are unmarked in places and a guide from the villages is the sensible arrangement. There are no facilities inside the park.

Nearby

Comayagua city is in the valley below, and Taulabe caves are north towards Lake Yojoa.

Key facts