Talamanca Range-La Amistad Reserves

When I started to look into the possibilities to visit one of the national parks, the climb up to Chirripo came out as the most attractive option. To properly enjoy the guarrapo, a principal characteristic of the world heritage site, one needs an overnight at the mountain guesthouse. When I checked the site around New Year, there was just one night available in March. I booked this quickly and then planned the rest of my trip around it.

One first books and pays the park entrance at the SINAC website, then one sends a whatsapp message to the mountain hut organisation with the SINAC reservation number. They will send a payment link for the accommodation The day before the climb one has to register at the SINAC office in San Gerardo de Rivas before 16.00h and book the meals at the mountain lodge office opposite. There are just few buses daily from San Isidro del General and I was in for a 2,5 hour wait there, luckily the square is quite lively and there are places for lunch.

When I arrived at the village, there was a heavy rain shower and I asked at the park office if I should be prepared for more rain, but the ranger said it was only the second shower this year, and it is very dry up in the mountains.

It is a climb of 2000 meters and 14 kilometers to the lodge which is at 3300 meters. I stayed at …

Site visited during Panama – Costa Rica trip (November, 2017) – since Els carefully described Costa Rican part of this serial heritage I will focus on Panamanian side. Technically, this National Park in Panama is divided in two sections: Las Nubes (in the south of Talamanca Range, Chiriquí Province) and Wekso (northern part, Bocas del Toro Province, more interesting, but far more difficult to get).

As I was travelling from Coiba National Park by public transport I went only to Las Nubes. It is possible to get from Santa Catalina (main access village for Coiba snorkeling activities) to Cerro Punta (central village around Talamanca Range) within one day. The journey requires 3 different buses and some luck. From Santa Catalina you should take first bus to Santiago de Varaguas, than change to the one for David, and change again there for the final trip to Cerro Punta (via Volcan). With a bit of luck you should arrive late in the afternoon to Cerro Punta. As hotels at central Cerro Punta were closed that time for unknown reason I moved closer (to Talamanca) to the village called Guadalupe, some 3-4 km from the center of Cerro Punta; place with its own shop (supermercado), restaurant and hotels (hostels), everything within walking distance.

Next day, with the help of organized local taxi lift I went to the Las Nubes section (the entrance is around 7 km from the village, google coordinates: 8°53'26.6"N 82°36'39.6"W). As in other National Parks in Panama you …

“The rugged terrain, difficult access and the formal protection status have kept human impacts at bay”, the OUV statement for the Talamanca Range states proudly. That means that a proper visit of this WHS, although it covers over 7% of Costa Rica, is not so easy (for a glimpse of it you can drive Route 2, Carretera Interamericana Sur, from San José to San Isidro General and look to the left). It encompasses eight contiguous protected areas including one in Panama, as shown on this map. I first targeted Chirripó NP, however, it turned out that access is almost exclusively geared to trekkers trying to reach the peak of Chirripó mountain. Esteban found me one alternative, with a local rural tourism association in San Jeronimo, which may be worth looking into for a future WH traveller.  

Eventually, I settled for the safe bet of Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park. This lies near the pleasant town of Orosi, 2 hours south of San José. Covid limitations to the number of daily visitors required me to reserve a spot beforehand for a specific day to visit, but otherwise, the park is easily accessible. It lies at the northern edge of the Talamanca range and is mostly known for its rainforest habitat. Consequentially it is also one of the rainiest parts of Costa Rica.

I arrived there at the opening hour of 8 am. On the advice of the Swiss owners of my guest house, I left the car at …

This conservation area doesn´t only include La Amistad International Peace Park, but also a myriad of other protected zones, such as Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park, Chirripó National Park, Barbilla National Park,Hitoy-Cerere Wildlife Refuge, Las Tablas Conservation Area, Río Macho forest area and several indigenous reserves, on both the caribbean and the pacific sides of the Talamanca mountain range in Costa Rica.

As it becomes apparent this areas are spread all over that mountain range in the costarican side of the border and are a great percentage of our territory. They range over a diference of 3.000 meters from the rainforest and marshy lowlands on the caribbean to the high peaks in the range, that include most of Costa Rica´s highest peaks, including the Chirripó (over 3.800 meters o.s.l), Kamuk and Cerro de la Muerte, all them which in the ice ages were covered with glaciars and today still show the action of the icefields.

I personally recommend as a costarrican the Chirripo National Park, since I visited it some years ago. It is so different to what tourists are accostummed to visit in Costa Rica (beaches and rainforest) that it drives completely another kind of adventure and spirit to it. It´s a really spiritual place, the low temperatures, the difficult trails, the rocky landscapes and extremely pristine lakes and rivers, the ghostly forests, the winds, the fog, the view atop of Chirripo mount of both seas, and a great part of the country, the impressive sunshines and sunsets, …

In February, I was in Panama City for a meeting and decided to make it to Amistad. First there is a 6.30am flight from Panama City to David in Chiriqui province. I was picked up by a guide at 7.30am in David and travelled another hour passed Cerro Punta to get to the park entrance. The scenery along the way were all cattle farms and agriculture. Very lush as we are now up to 6000 feet.

In the park there was a small park HQ where you registered and paid a small fee. Then there were several trails to take in the forest. I took the El Retorno trail hoping to see the Quetzal bird. No luck on the bird and after a couple of hours we were done. I was planning on staying the night in David but decided that there was nothing to do there and forfeited my room to fly back to Panama City on the 5pm flight.

If you have seen tropical forest before, you can definitely skip this one.