La Amistad International Park

La Amistad covers the Panamanian half of a transboundary park running along the Talamanca range into Costa Rica, and the two together were inscribed by UNESCO for holding the largest tract of undisturbed forest in Central America, with elevation running from lowland to over three thousand metres. Quetzals, tapir and all six of the region's cats occur. The Las Nubes entrance above Cerro Punta has the marked trails; most of the park has none.

Background

Counting both countries, the park spans 401,000 ha of tropical forest, the largest nature reserve in Central America, with about 20% of the region's species diversity. Described so far are more than 10,000 flowering plants, 215 mammal species, 600 kinds of bird and 115 species of freshwater fish, and at least seven amphibians, the Chiriquí fire salamander among them, live only inside its boundaries. Five big cats roam it: puma, ocelot, margay, jaguar and jaguarundi. Rough terrain has kept it little explored. Seven expeditions in a three-year project from 2006, led by the Natural History Museum in London with INBio and ANAM, found 12 plant species, 15 amphibians and three reptiles new to science.

Source: Wikipedia, "La Amistad International Park"

What's there

• The cloud forest - the undisturbed Talamanca woodland the inscription was made for.
• The elevation range - habitat running from lowland forest to over three thousand metres.
• The quetzals - resplendent quetzals present in the highland forest.
• The Las Nubes trails - the marked routes at the Chiriquí entrance.

When to go

December to April is the dry season and the only practical window for the trails. Rain is heavy the rest of the year. Mornings are best for birds.

What to expect

Only a small fringe of the park is accessible and most of it has no trails at all. Rain is frequent even in the dry months. Facilities are ranger stations with basic bunks and nothing else.

Nearby

Cerro Punta is below Las Nubes, and Finca Drácula is nearby.

Key facts