Cordillera de Talamanca, Adventure of Cordillera de Talamanca


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Cordillera de Talamanca
	Costa Rica is famous all over the world for its natural beauty. The virgin beauty of the enchanting mountains of Costa Rica is enhanced by the dense cover of forests. The lush green forests teeming with wildlife provides for a heavenly destination for the nature lovers. Costa Rica had always been a land verdant with the lush green forests, but modernization has started taking its toll. The decreasing forest reserves were endangering the ecological balance of the country and were also destroying its fauna. This led to the formation of a department under the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) which started the procedures of conservation of Costa Rican natural reserves. A certain amount of area was brought under the direct control of the MINAE and these areas were given the designation of national parks of Costa Rica. The Cordillera de Talamanca, is one such protected area which falls under the category of Costa Rican National Park.

The Cordillera de Talamanca is a beautiful mountain range lying between the two great land masses of Latin America, Panama and Costa Rica. This range consists of the highest peak of Costa Rica, the Cerro Chirripo or the Chirripo Grande. The height of this mountain range is near about 3000 meters, though the Grande Chirripo has a height of 3,819 meters. The entire range is covered by Talamancan Montane Forests. The vegetation above 1800 meters consists mainly of Oak trees. Above 3000 meters the vegetation changes drastically to short shrubs and bushes. The area beyond 3,400 meters is known as Costa Rican Paramo, which is an alpine prairie.

The forests of Cordillera de Talamanca are sometimes referred to as 'cloudy forests' because of the incessant rainfall that occurs here. The region around this mountain range has several unexplored areas which boast of housing rare varieties of plants and animals. The region is a home to sub Alpine ecosystem and has exotic varieties of birds like the Queztal. Here, in the lap of nature is located many national parks of Costa Rica. The major national parks located at the Cordillera de Talamanca are the Park Nacional Chirripo, the Friendship national park and the La Amistad International Park.

Costa Rica National parks