Costa Rican National Parks
From Costa Rica Travel Guide: Vacation and Travel tips
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Beautiful Costa Rica
Costa Rica has so much to offer the wildlife enthusiast that it is no small wonder that ecotourism is growing in the country. More than 70% of foreign travelers visit one or more of the National Parks, Biological Reserves, Refuges, or Gardens located around the country and half of these visitors come specifically to see Costa Rica’s wildlife.
An unbelievable 27 percent of Costa Rica is allocated as national park, biological reserve, wildlife refuge or some other class of protected area, both public and private. Many individuals, groups and organizations have stepped up and are purchasing tracts of Costa Rican wilderness in order to preserve it. More than a quarter of country has been set aside in order to protect it from exploitation and abuse that usually comes in the thinly veiled name of progress. No other country on the planet comes even close to such a statistic. Although the country makes up only .01% of the earth’s landmass, it is home to 5% of the planet’s biodiversity. In total this numbers somewhere between 500,000 and a million species of flora and fauna including: 50,000 species of insects (some the size of small rodents); over 1,000 species of orchids; 800 ferns (more than in all North America and Mexico); 208 species of mammals; 850 species of birds; 200 species of reptiles (half of which are snakes), and thousands of species of moths and butterflies.
Here are just some of the parks in Costa Rica that may be of interest.