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Contributed by Shawn Larkin
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| In order to take full advantage
of the Costa Rican rich wildlife, you need not
only luck but also a sharp eye. |
| Courtesy ICT |
The Talamanca mountains tower higher than any others
in Central America, and the canton of Costa Rica
that bears their name drops from the lofty highlands
to where they plunge into the Caribbean sea.
These mountains hold the largest wilderness in Central
America. Beautiful beaches cloaked in vegetation
rise to rainforest-clad highlands that give way
to the peaks' ecosystem known as "paramo."
Talamanca shelters Costa Rica’s greatest remaining
concentration of indigenous people, her largest
national park and her greatest biodiversity.
Ten thousand feet above the oceans, the Talamancan
ridgeline stretches into Panama. The summits crest
higher at various peaks, the tallest being 3820
meter Chirripo in the National Park of the same
name. The South American version of the alpine ecosystem
is called paramo and here you can see it trekking
along tunnel like trails of dense gnarled growth
broken by patches of wildflowers and views from
the top of the world --you can gaze at both the
Caribbean and the Pacific. Amistad National Park,
a friendship park between Costa Rica and Panama,
protects this high wonderland together with Chirripo
National Park.
These parks, together with a buffer of indigenous
reserves, national forests and national wildlife
refuges forms the Talamanca Biological Corridor
and it protects much more than just paramo and vistas.
This United Nations World Heritage sight contains
the highest biodiversity of anywhere in the world.
North and South American flora and fauna meet at
the bottleneck of the Talamancas. Here grow cloud
forests and rainforests, humid forests and wet forests,
paramo and mangrove swamps, dolphins and indigenous
forest dwellers. From Chirripo to the coastal forests
of the Gandoca Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge,
the wilderness is only broken once by a road.
The indigenous tribes come out of the forests and
make the adaptation to town life in Bri Bri. This
town serves as a kind of indigenous capital for
the nearby reserves of the Bri Bri, Cabecar, KekoLdi,
Telire and Tayni tribes. Most of the reserves are
rugged and inaccessible terrain. Some inhabitants
of Bri Bri don’t really want visitors, but
there are some restaurants and general stores where
tourists might get a chance to meet these quiet
peoples. The are also guides available for Costa
Rica’s most epic multiday wilderness trek,
crossing the Talamancas to the Pacific slope. The
hunted wildlife in the reserve areas can be rather
wary compared to animals in the national parks.
Indigenous culture mixes with West Indies African
culture on the Talamanca coast. Black fishermen
settled the choice spots on the coast beginning
around 100 years ago. The towns of Puerto Viejo
and Cahuita radiate a funky laid back Caribbean
vibration, and the villages of Punta Uva and Manzanillo
and Gandoca take it easier still. Dominos in the
shade and live reggae in the sand… or maybe
sip a coconut on your very own slice of golden beach
backed by thick jungle and palms? The perfect beaches
of the coast are so idyllic you might shed a tear
at the shear beauty of it.
The forest-clad rocky headlands of the Talamancas
spill into the sea from the KekoLdi Indigenous Reserve
to the Gandoca Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge’s
Punta Mona. The villages of Gandoca and Manzanillo
were allowed to remain when the zoned wildlife refuge
was formed. Just offshore lies Costa Rica’s
biggest area of coral reefs. You can walk from the
shade of the jungle palms into the blue Caribbean
and swim along multicolor corals cut by bright sand
right off the beach. A small barrier reef known
as Long Shoal lies further offshore. This Refuge
protects Costa Rica’s highest marine biodiversity.
Adventures ranging from kayaking with dolphins to
medicinal plant hikes go out every day with skilled
naturalist guides.
You will not see all Talamanca has to offer in a
lifetime. The greatest diversity of ecosystems and
cultures make this area a spicy banquet for the
senses. Gorgeous three- to four-hour drives to the
coast or highlands are worth the trips just in themselves,
and are undoubtedly scenic drives. Weather you stay
in a tent or in resort, you will not spend much
time in your room in Talamanca.
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