Cahuita
National Park:
: Travel
to Costa Rica
Despite having miles and miles of tropical coastline,
Costa Rica has very little coral reef development. Cahuita
National Park was created in 1970 to protect one of
the few such areas in the country, and thus became Costa
Rica's first marine national park (about 600 of the
1,067 hectares protected by the park are under water).
Unfortunately, there is not much live coral left at
Cahuita, although an interesting assortment of marine
life can be seen if the water conditions offer much
visibility. While admiring the colorful fish and curious
coral formations, be careful not to bump into any of
the black spiny sea urchins, they're very painful, and
very abundant in these waters.
The relatively small area of "dry" land contained in
the park is quite swampy and has no trails going through
it other than the trail along the beach from the village
of Cahuita to the ranger station area at Puerto Vargas
on the opposite side of Cahuita Point (about 7 km.).
Sloths, monkeys, lizards, crabs, and many kinds of birds
can be seen on the walk.
Getting there: Cahuita is located 42 km. south
of Puerto Limón. From the south end of the village
of Cahuita, access to the park is by foot trail. To
drive into the park, go past the turn offs for the village
and continue south until the sign for Puerto Vargas.
Buses to and from Limón run several times a day.
Climate: Like the rest of the Caribbean lowlands,
Cahuita is very warm and humid, with a chance of rain
any day of the year.
History: Most of the original residents of the
village of Cahuita were black people who had come to
Costa Rica via Jamaica in the latter part of the 1800's
to build the railroad or work the banana plantations.
This cultural influence is still very much present in
this and the other small coastal towns to the south
(Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo).
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