BARRA DEL COLORADO NaTIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Refugio Nacional De Vida Silvestre Barra Del Colorado (91,200 hectares) protects the vast rainforests and wetlands extending north from the estuary of Lagunas del Tortuguero to the Río San Juan, the international border with Nicaragua. About 30 km from the sea, the Río San Juan divides, with the San Juan flowing northeast and the main branch—the Río Colorado—flowing southeast to the sea through the center of the reserve. Dozens of tributaries form a labyrinth of permanent sloughs and ephemeral waterways that have made the region inaccessible to all but boat traffic.

The waterways are lined with ancient raffia palms. In the early winter, the tree-lined lagoons north of Barra are ablaze with the blossoms of bright yellow allamandas.

In many ways Barra Del Colorado is a replica of Tortuguero National Park—to which it is linked by canal—on a larger scale, and it protects a similar panoply of wildlife. Great green macaws wing screeching over the canopy, mixed flocks of antbirds follow advancing columns of army ants, and jabiru storks with two-meter wingspans circle above, flying so high that they are no more than motes in the sun. Large crocodiles inhabit the rivers and can be seen basking on mudbanks. Conservationists are struggling to protect the wildlife refuge from illegal logging.

Unexciting and ramshackle Barra del Colorado village sits astride the mouth of the 600-meter-wide Río Colorado. Barra del Norte, on the north side of the river, has no roads (just dirt paths littered with trash and a broken concrete walkway down its center between cabins made of corrugated tin and wooden crates). The slightly more salubrious Barra del Sur has the airstrip and most of the hamlet’s few services. The locals are wary of strangers.

The village once prospered as a lumber center but went into decline during two decades of Nicaraguan conflict, when the village became a haven for Nicaraguan refugees. Locals mainly rely on fishing or serve as guides for the half-dozen sportfishing lodges, but drug trafficking is also entrenched.

Despite the end to the conflicts, tensions with Nicaragua run high, because Nicaragua disputes Costa Rica’s territorial rights to land north of the Río Colorado and because the Río San Juan is entirely Nicaraguan territory (when you are on the water you are inside Nicaragua). Costa Ricans have right of use. Nicaraguan authorities charge foreigners for use of the Río San Juan ($5 pp, plus $7 per boat); you must carry your passport on the river.

There’s a ranger station 400 meters west of Silver King Lodge. Entrance costs 75 cents (200 colones) payable at the ranger station, or at the Cuatro Esquinas ranger station in Tortuguero village. For information, contact the park administration (tel. 506/710-2929 or 506/710-2939, fax 506/710-7673, acto@ns.minae.go.cr) in Guápiles.

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Sportfishing
The rivers hereabouts are famous for their game fishing; all of the lodges specialize in sportfishing. Local tarpon are so abundant and feisty that a two-meter whopper might well jump into your boat. Gar—one of the oldest fish on earth, with an ancestry dating back 90 million years—is also common; growing up to two meters long, these bony-scaled fish have long, narrow, crocodile-like snouts full of vicious teeth.

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Services
Diana’s Souvenirs (tel. 506/710-6592), run by a Canadian, Diana Graves, offers fax and photocopying services and acts as the post office, public telephone, tourist information service, and Nature Air ticket rep.

There’s another public telephone (tel. 506/710-2141) in the bar of the Tarponland Lodge. The tiny police station is wharfside at the end of the airstrip.

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Getting There
Both SANSA and Nature Air fly daily from San José if they get two or more passengers. You can also charter a light plane from San José.

You can hire private boats from Tortuguero, Moín, Los Chiles, and Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí.

A rough road leads from Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí to Pavas (at the juncture of the Ríos Toro and Sarapiquí), where you can also charter a boat. Do not attempt to reach Barra by boat without a guide, as there are several braided channels to negotiate and it is easy to get dangerously lost.

A Copetrac (tel. 506/767-6139) bus departs Gran Terminal Caribe (Calle Central, Avenida 13), in San José, for Cariari, from where it’s a 200-meter walk to connect with a noon or 2 p.m. bus to Puerto Lindo on the Río Colorado, or a 2:30 p.m. bus to La Pavona. A lancha (water taxi) runs from here ($6 pp); or lodge boats will pick you up by prior arrangement. Buses also depart Guápiles to Cariari (21 km north).

Morpho Travel (tel. 506/711-0674), in Tortuguero, has boat service from Tortuguero to Pavones at 6 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., and from Pavones to Tortugero at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.