PALO VERDE NATIONAL PARK

Palo Verde National Park, 28 km south of Bagaces, protects 13,058 hectares of floodplain, marshes, limestone ridges, and seasonal pools in the heart of the driest region of Costa Rica—the Tempisque basin, at the mouth of the Río Tempisque in the Gulf of Nicoya. The park, which derives its name from the palo verde (green tree) or horsebean shrub that retains a bright green coloration year-round, is contiguous to the north with the remote 7,354-hectare Dr. Rafael Lucas Rodríguez Caballero Wildlife Refuge and, beyond that, the Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve. The three, together with Barra Honda National Park and adjacent areas, form the Tempisque Megapark and have a similar variety of habitats, not least patches of dry forest that once extended along the entire Pacific coast of Mesoamerica.

Dry forest was even more vast than the rainforest, but also more vulnerable to encroaching civilization. For half the year, from November to March, no rain relieves the heat of the Tempisque basin, leaving plants and trees parched and withered. Fires started by local farmers eviscerate the tinder-dry forests, opening holes quickly filled by ecological opportunists such as African jaraguá, an exotic grass brought to Costa Rica in the late 19th century to grow pastures. Jaraguá rebounds quickly from fire and grazing pressures, reaching four-meter-high combustible stands. Rolling, rocky terrain spared Lomas Barbudal, in particular, from the changes wrought on the rest of Guanacaste Province by plows and cows. Here, the dry forest remains largely intact and several endangered tree species thrive: mahogany, Panamá redwood, gonzalo alves, rosewood, sandbox (popular with scarlet macaws), and the cannonball tree (balas de cañón). A relative of the Brazil nut tree, the cannonball tree produces a pungent, nonedible fruit that grows to the size of a bowling ball and dangles from a long stem. Several evergreen tree species also line the banks of the waterways, creating riparian corridors inhabited by species not usually found in dry forests.

Unlike Costa Rica’s moist forests, the tropical dry forests undergo a dramatic seasonal transformation. In the midst of drought, vibrant yellow and pink flowers synchronically burst onto bare branches, earning the moniker “big bang reproducers.” Myriad bees—at least 250 species—moths, bats, and wasps pollinate the flowers. And moist fruits ripen throughout the dry season, feeding monkeys, squirrels, peccaries, and other mammalian frugivores.

In all, there are 15 different habitats (including several types of swamp and marshland) and a corresponding diversity of fauna. Plump crocodiles wallow on the muddy riverbanks, salivating, no doubt, at the sight of coatis, white-tailed deer, and other mammals come down to the water to drink. Birds abound, including such endangered species as the great curassow, yellow-naped parrot, and king vulture.

The banks of the Tempisque, which is tidal, are also lined with archaeological sites.

The corridors of swamp forest linking Palo Verde and Dr. Rafael Lucas Rodríguez Caballero with Lomas Barbudal continue to shrink; local farmers have invested in permits to clear the swamp forest and plant crops, increasing the isolation of both reserves. To save the mangroves, the Cipancí National Wildlife Refuge was proclaimed in 2001 along 3,500 square km of riverside bordering the Tempisque and Bebedero Rivers.

Palo Verde National Park (Parque Nacional Palo Verde, $6 admission) is best known as a bird-watchers’ paradise. More than 300 bird species have been recorded, not least great curassows and the only permanent colony of scarlet macaws in the dry tropics. At least a quarter of a million wading birds and waterfowl flock here in fall and winter, when much of the arid alluvial plain swells into a lake. Isla de Pájaros, in the middle of the Río Tempisque, is replete with waterbirds, including white ibis, roseate spoonbills, anhingas, and wood storks; jabiru storks, the largest storks in the world; and the nation’s largest colony of black-crowned night herons.

Three well-maintained trails lead through deciduous tropical forest and marshland to lookout points over the lagoons. Others lead to limestone caves and large waterholes such as Laguna Bocana, which are gathering places for a diversity of birds and animals. Limestone cliffs rise behind the old Hacienda Palo Verde, now the park headquarters (tel./fax 506/200-0125), eight km south of the park entrance.

Reserva Biológica Lomas Barbudal (Bearded Hills, admission by donation) is a 2,279-hectare biological reserve fed by protected river systems, some of which flow year-round, among them the Cabuya, which has sandy-bottomed pools good for swimming. Along with Palo Verde, Lomas Barbudal is also one of the few remaining Pacific coast forests that attracts the colorful scarlet macaw. The macaws are fond of the seeds from the sandbox tree’s segmented fruit, whose inner tissue contains a caustic latex strong enough to corrode flesh.

The Lomas Barbudal park office and information center (Casa de Patrimonio) is on the banks of the Río Cabuyo. Trails span the park from here. It’s open on a 10-days-on/four-days-off schedule. Picnic benches sit under shade trees.

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When to Visit
Dry season is by far the best time to visit, although the Tempisque basin can get dizzyingly hot. Access is easier, and deciduous trees lose their leaves, making bird-watching easier. Wildlife gathers by the waterholes. And there are far fewer mosquitoes and bugs. When the rains come, mosquitoes burst into action—bring bug spray.

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Tours and Recreation
The Organization of Tropical Studies offers natural history visits by advance reservation (guided walks cost $15 half-day, $30 full day adults, $10/20 children, plus $6 park entrance fee). The park rangers will take you out on their boat for $10 pp. Or you can hire boats in Puerto Humo or Bebedero.

Most tour companies in San José also offer river tours in Palo Verde. Costa Rica Fun Adventures (P.O. Box 100-1260 Escazú, tel. 506/290-6015, fax 506/296-0533, funadven@racsa.co.cr) offers boat trips, as does Tempisque Eco-Adventures & Canopy Tour (tel. 506/687-1212, info@tempisqueecoadventures.com), just north of the highway immediately west of the Tempisque bridge. Cocodrilo Safari (tel. 506/654-4123, ext. 8913, elcocosafari@yahoo.es), at Paradisus Playa Conchal Beach & Golf Resort, in Conchal, offers Land Rover safaris.

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Getting There
The main entrance to Palo Verde National Park is 28 km south of Bagaces, along a dirt road that begins opposite the gas station and Tempisque Conservation Area office on Hwy. 1. The route is well signed; follow the power lines past the turnoff for Lomas Barbudal. No buses travel this route. A jeep-taxi from Bagaces costs about $15 one-way.

Coming from the Nicoya peninsula, a bus operates from the town of Nicoya to Puerto Humo (see the Nicoya chapter), where you can hire a boat to take you three km upriver to the Chamorro dock, the trailhead to park headquarters (it’s a two-km walk). Note that boats are not allowed within more than 50 meters of Isla de Pájaros. Alternately, you can drive from Filadelfia or Santa Cruz to Hacienda El Viejo: the park is four km east from El Viejo, and the Río Tempisque two km farther. A local boatman will ferry you downriver to the park dock; the park headquarters is then an hour’s walk east along a rough track that is muddy and swampy in wet season.

You can also hire a boat at Puerto Moreno, on the west bank of the Tempisque, two km south of the bridge.

The unpaved access road for Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve is off Hwy. 1, at the Km 221 marker near Pijijes, about 10 km north of Bagaces. A dirt road—4WD recommended—leads six km to a lookout point with views over a valley whose hillsides are clad with dry forest. The road descends steeply from here to the park entrance (you can’t drive across the river and into the park, but you can parallel the river for a ways and even, it is said, circumnavigate the reserve). If conditions are particularly muddy you may park at the lookout point and hike to the ranger station rather than face not being able to return via the dauntingly steep ascent from the ranger station in your car. A jeep-taxi from Bagaces will cost about $25 round-trip.

Palo Verde and Lomas Barbudal are also linked by a rough dirt road that connects to the Palo Verde park entrance station.