Santa Rosa National Park

Santa Rosa National Park

Santa Rosa National Park is Costa Rica's first official National Park as of 1971. It is located in the northwest corner of Guanacaste near Nicaragua and bordering the Pacific Ocean. This area of land is important in protecting much of Costa Rica's tropical dry forest. Tropical dry forests all over the world are important to protect because they are considered to be the most endangered ecosystem in the world. For most of the 1900s, the area of Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula was used cattle pastures. Due to the increased demand for beef and subsidies from the World Bank, cattle farming was highly profitable and in high demand. By 1970, over 60% of the land in Guanacaste was used for cattle. Even after early years of establishment for the national park, the cattle pastures still harmed the environment, with over grazing, infertile soils, and forest fires. Today, the park and surrounding area is protected by the national parks service and Conservacion de Guancaste World Heritage. Santa Rosa now has about 500 square km of land that protects many different types of Holdridge life zones including many different types of tropical dry woods and several bird and mammal species.

Protected dry forest land

This field study occurred from November 15th to November 16th. We started our journey in front of the USAC office with our same taxi driver, Gerado, as from Volcan Irazu. After a four hour drive and a quick stop at the gas station, we arrived at Santa Rosa National Park to drop our stuff off before heading to the beach. One thing I did notice about the drive to Santa Rosa and to the beach is the vast amount of cattle pastures. I had not seen large amounts of cows like this anywhere else on Costa Rica. So despite conservation efforts and the changing political climate around the beef industry, cows are still very prevalent and the livelihood for many people in Guanacaste. Right when we entered the park, I already started noticing the differences between this tropical dry forest and the tropical wet forests I have been visiting. The trees were shorter and less dense. There were more deciduous varieties and grasses. From the drive in the park to the housing, I also saw more wildlife, such as white-tailed deer, a couple varieties of birds, and an iguana. There was also a large spider in our room. After getting ready, we drove to Playa Cuajiniquil.

La Playa at sunset

We arrived at the beach a little before sunset. We had the rest of the afternoon as free time, so I explored and swam. I first walked around the rocky area hoping to catch some animals in the tide pools. Since the tide was already coming in, there was not much to see besides snails. I noticed the beach was a combination of large sandstone rock structures both in and out of the water and sand. While I was swimming, I noticed little microorganisms whenever I would pick up a handful of water. Otherwise, there was not a lot of animals around where we were swimming. On the beach, there was a brown vine snake, which was alive and very well camouflaged, and a dead yellow-bellied sea snake. I read that those snakes can sometimes get washed onshore with the current and are unable to move back to the water due to their aquatic body type. I believe that this is likely what happened to it, since its body was fully intact. After the sunset, we were hoping to see bioluminescent dinoflagellates, but did not. I did notice fish start to jump out of the water as the sun was going down to presumably try and catch insects above the water and the water birds who were taking advantage of this interaction.

Dead yellow bellied sea snake

After dinner at a restaurant in town, we went back to prepare for our night hike. On our drive back into the park on the main road, we saw more animals. The first was a large rattlesnake that was halfway across the road, which we swerved to avoid. We got out to search and eventually found it on the right side of the road. This rattlesnake was bigger than any other rattlesnake that I had ever encountered. Its body was really thick, almost more like a constrictor, but with a big rattler at the end of its tail. The second animals we saw was another type of snake, also halfway across the road. I did not see this one, but I was told it was a boa constrictor. From what I could tell from the backseat of the car, it was about the same size as the rattlesnake.

Our hike took us from our cabins to the Casona through the main road and some side trails. It was interesting being in this type of forest at night because there was a lot more moonlight that reached through the trees. Despite being a different kind of forest, the sounds were very similar to other night hikes I had been on. There were many insect noises and occasional frog sounds. I could also pick out bat sounds, especially as we neared the bat cave. During this hike, we looked at many different plant species. In the dark I had a difficult time identifying them, but I did notice many cacti species and trees. Some animals that we saw on the hike included bats, frogs, termites, ants, two deer and a rabbit. When we reached the Casona, we climbed to the top of the stairs to see the view of the towns and the volcanoes in the distance. We ended the night hike with a more direct route back to our cabins.

Jordan, Myself, and Charlie at the Casona lookout point

The next morning, we woke up early for breakfast. After breakfast we started our first hike for the day. For this one, we would head back towards the main entrance of the park where the old growth forest was. During this hike, I got a better opportunity to compare the differences between a tropical dry forest and a tropical wet forest. For one thing, a tropical dry forest does not have very many epiphytes. I noticed a couple like a vanilla orchids and a type of cactus that grew up in the tree, but as far as the mossy, wet ones that I am used to seeing by now, there were none. The canopy was also significantly less dense, with the exception of when were in the old growth forest. The tropical dry forests of Costa Rica felt like deciduous forests that are in the Midwest of the United States; even the fauna was similar with the deer, rabbits, and rattlesnakes.

Brides veil mushroom 

Right as we started walking, we noticed a troop of spider monkeys. Not long after that, we passed by a tree where we heard a type of parrot. We searched for a while, but their camouflage was too good for us to see when they were among the leaves. As we were starting to move on, we heard a howler monkey, so we went back to the direction of the noise. After moving a bit off the trail, we found a lone male howler monkey. It was unsure why it was alone, but we speculated that maybe it was a young male looking for a troop or an old one who has been banished from his old troop. When we continued back on the trail again, we heard the parrots once more. This time, I was able to spot them because they were perched on a Guanacaste tree with sparse leaves. We identified the two birds as Yellow Napped Parrot. We continued walking, along the way identifying plants such as a fig tree, brides veil mushroom that had bloomed, and a bombacopii quinatum. Once we reached the old growth forest, we noted the changes. These trees were much taller and well established so that the canopy was denser and not as much sunlight reached the floor. We went off the path briefly to explore one type of large tree. We also noticed someone’s old experiment of trying to catch rodents. After this part, we decided to walk back for lunch. Along the way back we spotted a white-faced capuchin monkey and Jordan found a trail with some tapir tracks. Along this little trail, we also saw a small brown venomous snake. Right before we reached the cafeteria, we ran into a tinamou, a crested guan, and a troop of white-faced capuchins. Overall, it was a pretty successful hike in terms of spotting the forests wildlife and biodiversity.

Tapir tracks in the mud

After lunch, we went out for one last hike. This time it was back to the Casona for a look at it in the daylight (and to pay our entrance fee). We didn’t see many animals during this hike, but I did notice many Guanacaste trees and fig trees. After paying, we hiked the stairs again back up to the view point. It was a bit foggy, but we were able to identify the different geographic features, such as Ricon de La Vieja. We finished off this hike by returning to the bat cave. I opted out of this, but took some time to examine the petrified wood that kind of looks like an iguana. I also noticed a fallen nursery log was making a weird sound, almost like water. We came to the conclusion that the noise was likely coming from insect larvae inside the log, which I found to be a bit unsettling. The intention was to go for another hike after this one to a viewpoint over Playa Naranjo, but it had started to rain and we were running out of time. Therefore, we ended our Santa Rosa adventure there and went pack to collect our things and head out.

More Pictures: 

All of us at a lookout point

Brown Vine Snake

Charlie, Myself, and Jordan at the lookout point