The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve is a state owned non-profit reserve created in March 1992, in order to help preserve the unique cloud forest surrounding them and to use tourism as a tool to benefit community development, thanks to the help of Youth Challenge International, a Canadian Non-profit Organization, the Costa Rican government and the Santa Elena Community, making it one of the first community managed reserves in the country, located high on the Tilarán Cordillera slopes.
The original vision was to use this land for agricultural research and education. But, for multiple reasons, the farming proved to be unsuccessful, and in 1989, it was decided to convert the land into a cloud forest reserve. The philosophy of this reserve is unique, where long term sustainability is not only a concern of the Reserve, but of the community as a whole, making it an excellent example of what people can do to preserve and learn from their environment.
A cloud forest is a highland forest characterized by nearly 100% humidity throughout the year. Here in the Santa Elena Clod Forest Reserve, warm North-Easterly trade winds, filled with moisture, blow in over the Atlantic. As the winds sweep up to the Continental divide, they cool and condense to form clouds, bathing the forest in a constant soft mist.
The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve is even cloudier and wetter than the Monteverde Reserve because of its higher elevation. Here, the cloud forest receives an incredible 4m (12 ft) of rain every year.
Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve has 83% of primary forest, with the remainder being mature secondary forest. Birds are less abundant than in Monteverde Reserve, but you can find a wide variety of birds as the spectacular Resplendent Quetzal, Three-wattled Bellbird, and animals such as Red brocket deer (Mazama Rufina), sloths, coaties, ocelots, howler, capuchin and spider monkeys, as well as a wide variety of insects, amphibians and mammals which never even come down to the forest floor, making it a perfect place for hiking, bird watching, volunteering or do some research.
One of the most characteristic features of the reserve is the abundance of vegetation, where competition for growing space is so intense that trunks and branches are almost entirely covered with a variety of lichens, liverworts, bryophytes, mosses and epiphytes, mats store moisture, which is especially important in the dry season (from February to May).
The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve trails will take you on an amazing journey of discovery as you blaze your way through the hanging vines and moist vegetation. The reserve has four main trails: the Caño Negro Trail, the longest trail (4.8km – 3.5hrs); the Encantado Trail, excellent for bird watching (3.4km – 2.5hrs); the El Bajo Trail, extends through more secondary growth forest (2.6km – 1.5hrs); and the Youth Challenge Trail, ideal for lookouts (1.4km – 45min), which are more natural and more difficult to walk than those of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. There is also a tower offering beautiful views of 5 Costa Rica volcanoes on a clear day: Arenal, Rincon de la Vieja, Tenorio, Miravalles and Poas, where visitors can even appreciate the Nicaragua Lake, as well as similar habitat and wildlife like the one in Monteverde reserve.
This reserve together with the Children’s Eternal Rainforest (El Bosque Eterno de los Ninos), the Arenal Conservation Area and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, constitute a contiguous conservation area of approximately 28,000 hectares (69,000 acres), with plans to raise funds to buy and restore adjacent farmlands for future inclusion into the Santa Elena Reserve. Conservation efforts in the area are concentrating on establishing forest corridors, so the Resplendent Quetzal, American Pumas, Jaguars, Ocelots and Red Brocket Deer have large territories in which to forage and breed.
The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve is the less visited sister reserve of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Less crowded, lush green forests full of flora and fauna, this reserve boasts one of the best places to hear and see howler monkeys in all of Costa Rica.
The Reserve is administered by the Professional Technical School of Santa Elena. All the profits from entrance fees, guided tours and the souvenir shop are dedicated to help and to give  support to the education of Santa Elena’s youth. They are also invested into the development of courses in environmental education, biology, agriculture, language and tourism. In using the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve as a natural classroom, students and teachers harness an unlimited educational resource that can be used for anything from studying tropical plant ecology to leading tours.
At the entrance of the reserve, you can find a visitors center, a restaurant, a souvenir shop, boots for rent, etc. The reserve also has a canopy tour with pulleys and cables running between platforms. Other nearby Costa Rica parks includes Monteverde Biological Clod Forest Reserve.
Getting there:
The road to Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve is unpaved (a vehicle equipped with four-wheel-drive is recommended). From San Jose take the inter-American highway North to kilometer 133, then turn right towards Sardinal until you reach Santa Elena (about 29 Kilometers). Once you reach Santa Elena continue for another 6 kilometers following the signs. It is a 1 ½ hour trip and this will bring you to the entrance to the reserve.
For those who wish to use public transportation, there is bus service leaving from San Jose to Santa Elena (a community 6 kilometers from the reserve). The buses leave twice a day, at 6:30 a.m. and at 2:30 p.m. (Auto Transportes Tilaran 506 222-3854). The trip takes 4½ hours. There is bus service from Santa Elena to the Reserve at 6:15 a.m. and at 1:00 p.m. Return to Santa Elena is at noon and 4:00 pm. There is also cab service between Santa Elena and the Reserve.
Location: 5km (3 miles) north of Santa Elena town, between Puntarenas and Alajuela provinces, Costa Rica.
GPS Coordinates: 10°18’38.66″N, 84°49’44.10″W
Size: 310 ha (765 acres)
Altitude: from 1,300 m (4,800 ft) to 1,700 m (5,600 ft.).
Toll Free: 1-888-456-3212
Telephone: +(506) 2479-8811
Schedule: from 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. all the year round. Night walks from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (with previous reservation)
Website: www.monteverdeinfo.com
Monteverde is the most famous cloud forest reserve in the world and one of the most important protected areas in Costa Rica. It is visited by nature lovers from various countries desiring to enjoy, appreciate and study the abundant biodiversity of its ecosystems. It was created in 1972 in order to protect the watershed above the village of Monteverde (“Green Mount”), a small town in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  Although majority of the reserve is located in the Puntarenas province, however parts stretch to the Alajuela province, along the Tilarán Mountain Range.
It is often considered a major tourist destination in Costa Rica, primarily frequented by ecotourists drawn by the high biodiversity of its numerous reserves, the most famous of which is the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. The area is also frequented by researchers and naturalists who come to study specialized areas of mountain and tropical biodiversity. The Monteverde area has been christened number 14 of the Americas in Newsweek’s 100 Places to Remember Before They Disappear, besides been deemed one of the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica, and also has been called “the jewel in the crown of cloud forest reserves” by National Geographic.
The reserve consists of 6 ecological zones, 90% of which are virgin forest, filled with extravagantly tall trees that range from 30 to 40 meters in heigh, with pathways that are embellished in orchids, bromeliads, ferns, vines, and mosses. The unique landscape is home to over 2,500 plant species, so is also known as the site with the largest number of orchids in the world, as well as has over 161 species of amphibians and reptiles, been known worldwide as the habitat of the golden toad (Bufo periglenes), a species that disappeared in 1989.
The variable climate and large altitudinal gradient has helped produce an extremely high biodiversity, with more than 100 species of mammals such as marsupials, squirrels, porcupines, agouties, deer, monkeys, muskrats and felines such as the Jaguar, Ocelot, Baird´s Tapir, Three-wattled Bellbird, Bare necked Umbrella bird and the famous elusive Resplendent Quetzal. The beginning of the migration of the bell bird (Procnias tricarunculata) is similar to that of the quetzal, with reproduction occurring from March to June, and followed by a post-reproductive move downhill on the Pacific slope during the months of August and September. Besides, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve has about 400 bird species, where 21% of them are long distance migratory birds, which reproduce in North America and pass through Monteverde during their migration. Three of these species, the  Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus), the Piratic Flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius), and the Yellow-green Vireo (Vireo flavoviridis), reproduce in Monteverde and migrate to South America during their non-reproductive phase.
The majority of the bird species in Monteverde are primarily insectivores, given that the plants in the region offer a wide variety of fruit. The epiphytes are important resources for both, frugivores and insectivores in Monteverde. On a global scale, the cloud forests of Monteverde are home to ten species of birds that are considered to be endangered by the Birdlife International Organization, due to their very restricted habitat worldwide.
Resting roughly at 1400 meters above sea level, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is misty and windy, with a mean annual temperature of 18°C (64°F) and an annual rainfall averages around 3,000 mm (118 in), where humidity oscillates between 74% to 97%.
Early in the 50′s, a group of quakers from the United States and their families arrived to Costa Rica. Led by Hubert Mendenhall, John Cambell, Howard Rockwell, and Wilford Guindon, they settled in Monteverde, when colonization in the region was just beginning.
It was in 1972 that biologist George Powell joined Wilford Guindon, one of the Monteverde Quaker pioneers, to promote the establishment of the natural preserve now known as the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, an area of extraordinary beauty and biodiversity; it is today the best-known private reserve on the Central American. The establishment of the reserve was fully backed by the Quaker community. During the first years they helped to obtain financing, and during the construction of “La Casona”, they received scientists and visitors as guests in their homes.
After the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve creation, the Tropical Science Center continued to secure the financial and human resources necessary to expand, consolidate and properly protect and manage the non-profit reserve.
The spectacular Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve feels like walking in a grandiose green Cathedral, where poorly drained areas support swamp forests while parts dissected by numerous crystal clear streams tumbling over rapids and waterfalls. With its unique cloud canopy, Monteverde  Cloud Forest Reserve is a paradise for nature lovers and avid photographers. It comes as no surprise that people who visited Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve rank it as one of the most beautifully, stunning and breath taking nature reserves in the world.
The number of visitors to the preserve has risen consistently from 471 visitors in 1974 to 70,000 in 2005, so the income derived from entrance fees and charges for scientific research provides the budget to cover the cost of all administrative, managerial, security and educational expenses.
The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve offers ideal facilities for research, education and ecotourism. It has a lodging mountain “La Casona” with capacity for 47 persons with an agreeable service of cafeteria and restaurant, a room of audiovisuals and a sale of tickets, a center for environmental education, a scientific laboratory with a classroom of study, administrative offices and a shop of crafts and souvenirs. Other nearby Costa Rica reserve includes the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve.
Getting there:
The road to Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve is unpaved (a vehicle equipped with four-wheel-drive is recommended). From San Jose take the inter-American highway North to kilometer 133, then turn right towards Sardinal until you reach Santa Elena (about 29 Kilometers). Once you reach Santa Elena continue for another 6 kilometers following the signs. It is a 1 ½ hour trip and this will bring you to the entrance to the reserve.
There is also a bus service leaving from San Jose to Santa Elena (a community 6 kilometers from the reserve). The buses leave twice a day, at 6:30 a.m. and at 2:30 p.m. (Auto Transportes Tilaran 506 222-3854). The trip takes 4½ hours. There is bus service from Santa Elena to the Reserve at 6:15 a.m. and at 1:00 p.m. Return to Santa Elena is at noon and 4:00 p.m. There is also cab service between Santa Elena and the Reserve.
Location: 6km (3.7 miles) southeast of Santa Elena in Puntarenas, Costa Rica
GPS Coordinates: 10°18’38.66″N, 84°49’44.10″W
Size: 17.000 ha (42.000 acres)
Altitude: 1,200 m to 1,600 m
Telephone: +(506) 2645-5122 / (506) 2645-5579
Fax: +(506) 2645-5034
Schedule: from 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. all the year round.
Website: www.montever@cct.or.cr
The Romelia National Wildlife Refuge was created on October 24th, 1997 in order to protect tropical forest and beach areas on the coast of the southern Nicoya Peninsula, part of the Tempisque Conservation Area, near Montezuma, Costa Rica.
It is a buffer zone and part of a biological corridor of Cabo Blanco Absolute Reserve, the Nicoya Peninsula Protected Area and Nicholas Weesberg  Absolute Nature Reserve, so it’s a place with a wide biodiversity. This protected area was established with the intent to meet the needs of the nearby population research, recreation, environmental education and sustainable utilization of natural resources.
Sea turtles are a wonderful legacy from the prehistoric times, so is the importance on help them to survive. It is for this reason that in 2009 ASVO started to work in Romelia National Wildlife Refuge with the aim of evaluating and protecting populations of sea turtles that nest on the beaches of the refuge and on adjacent beaches. After dark, ASVO volunteers lead tourists on night patrol to view female turtles digging nests and laying eggs, and then guard the nesting sites from poachers and predators, starting in December. Also, Proyecto Montezuma will offer tours for visitors to witness and protect baby turtles as they exit their nests in the sand and scurry toward the ocean to start their lives in the open waters.
The sea turtle conservation program is a scientific based conservation activity in which they try to increase the amount of sea turtle hatchlings to give higher survival possibilities to this beautiful animals, besides the associated ecosystems.
Due to the fact that the refuge is located in a transition area between the dry and wet forest, a unique combination of evergreen trees – never lose their leaves – which are characteristic of the humid rainforest, and trees of the deciduous type, which lose their foliage during the dry season, and are characteristic of the dry forest. The Romelia National Wildlife Refuge has about 140 different species of trees such as Spiny Cedar or “Pochote” (Bombacopsis quinata), the “Guacimo” (Guazuma ulmifolia), impressive “Espavel” (Anacardium excelsum), the “Indio Desnudo” (Bursera simaruba) and the beautiful “Corteza Amarillo” (Tabebuia  ochracea) which bursts into a yellow spectacle of flowers during the dry months of March and April.
The Romelia National Wildlife Refuge also has a considerable variety of mammals, where predominates the Howler (Alouatta palliata) and the White-face (Cebus capuchinus) monkeys, coaties, coyotes, armadillos, collared peccaries, raccoons, pacas, anteaters, White-Tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), ocelots and jaguarondis or margays (Felis wiedii). But the greatest wealth in fauna is in the abundant marine birds, fish, crabs and mollusks found in the shore waters.
The Romelia National Wildlife Refuge is 30 minutes by walk from Montezuma a beach famous for its breathtaking beauty. It is also near Cabo Blanco Reserve. The campsite is very basic, but has special condition for volunteer. We have potable water and the water for showers. Other nearby Costa Rica parks includes Curu National Wildife Refuge, Nicolas Wessberg and Cabo Blanco Absolute Natural.
Getting there:
Take the Pan-American or the new Caldera Highway from San Jose to Puntarenas, then take the Ferry (boat for cars) to Paquera town, continue south for approximately 40 km to get to Montezuma. From there, a four-wheel-drive vehicle is practically a necessity, even during the dry season.
There is also public bus service to Montezuma from the village of Relleno where the ferry docks.
Location: near Montezuma, in Puntarenas province.
Paquera GPS Coordinates: 9°49’16.11″N, 84°56’8.09″W
Puntarenas Ferry GPS Coordinates: 9°58’38.75″N, 84°50’54.79″W
Size: 168 ha (415 acres)
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