Piedras Blancas National Park
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Welcome to Piedras Blancas National Park!
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With a stunning diversity of flora and fauna, the gorgeous Piedras Blancas National Park is a significant natural reserve and wildlife refuge located in the Puntarenas province.
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Lying on the Southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, this national park is situated in Golfito in the south east of the Osa Peninsula. Neighboring the Golfito National Wildlife Refuge, the Piedras Blancas National Park connects with the Corcovado National Park to form and safeguard an important and ecologically diverse biological corridor in the Golfo Dulce.
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Spanning over 14,000 hectares, this national park is among the last remaining homes of the jaguar in Costa Rica. With its lush tropical forests and plethora of indigenous plants and wildlife, the Piedras Blancas National Park also protects the northern Golfo Dulce beaches and bays.
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Due to its humid and hot climate, this park gets plenty of rain keeping it lush and verdant all year long. There are hundreds of rare plant, animal, and insect species found in this forest, as well as a large number of snakes and other reptiles. However, not all of them are known, as studies of this park are still going on. Some of the more common animals and birds found here include: howler, spider and white-nose capuchin monkeys, pumas and otzelots, coatis, toucans and scarlet macaws.
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Considered by many to be one of the best bird watching parks in the country, the Piedras Blancas National Park is an important gathering point for many birds from North and South America.
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With its tall dense forestation, this national park is essentially an evergreen primary forest that is also the habitat of many indigenous trees and plants. Research has additionally unearthed clues that in the pre-Hispanic period, this park was the home of many native Costa Rican tribes. A collection of artifacts from these ancient cultures can be seen at Saladero Ecolodge.
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Our Jungle Trails
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At Saladero Ecolodge you have the opportunity to visit the National Park on our four well maintained trails (Puma Trail, Jaguar Trail, Espavel Trail and Gladiator Trail). If you walk them in one piece, you have to calculate 2 to 2 1/2 hours. You can walk them yourself or book a guided tour.
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On our trails we have strategically placed camera traps to learn more about the animals that inhabit Piedras Blancas National Park. In the past we have been collecting data to be used in the "Cat Program" to determine the abundance of all the animals in the primary rainforests of the Osa Penninsula, Los Mogos and Piedras Blancas National Park. These camera traps have documented the first photo of a Tyra, Black Jaguarundi and a Margay in the Piedras Blancas National Park along with many supporting species like the Agouti, Great Curassow, Collard Peccary and Paca.
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This photo of a Jaguar was taken on our trail No. 2 (Jaguar Trail) in April 2015 at 10:00 p.m.
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On the clip below you can see a compilation of the shots taken by the camera on trail No. 4 (Gladiator Trail). The clip was a cooperation between Osa Conservation and Saladero Ecolodge. The camera was placed on top of the ridge (about 550m above sea level). To walk this path, it must be dry and you must be physically fit to make the climb.
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