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SANTA ROSA NATIONAL PARK
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Santa Rosa National Park was created in 1971 to preserve the site of the battle
of Santa Rosa, one of Costa Rica´s most important historical events and
to protect the increasingly rare dry tropical forest. Today it is one of the most
popular, due to its good trails and great surfing. Excellent opportunities for
wildlife observation and photography exist during the dry season, due to concentration
of animals such as peccaries, coatimundis, and tapirs at water holes. This big
park protects a vast extension of dry tropical forest. The most accessible site
is the recently rebuilt monument La Casona, that was totally destroyed by a fire
in May of 2001. This big ranch house was the site where the battle of Santa Rosa
took place in 1856, and it is a museum nowadays. Near the ruins of La Casona there
is a good one hour trail to learn more about this kind of forest.
There is a suitable section for camping in the park at Naranjo beach. This is
a 12 kilometer ( 7.5 miles ) drive from the old Casona site toward the beach.
The road is only accessible during the dry season and a 4WD is recommended. At
this beautiful beach there are nearby trails to hike, with high chances to see
wildlife. Playa Naranjo is not frequented that much and therefore is unspoiled.The
beautiful beaches of Naranjo and Nancite are important laying sites for sea turtles,
mainly olive ridley, leatherback, the biggest of all, and Pacific greens. Nancite
is home to the largest arribadas of olive ridley turtles in all of Tropical America.
All in all Santa Rosa has an amazingly diverse topography for its size, ranging
from mangrove swamp to deciduous forest and savannah. Home to 115 species of mammals
- half of them bats - 250 species of birds and 100 of amphibians ans reptiles,
Santa Rosa is prime biological investigation territory, attracting researches
from allover the world. The appearance of the park changes drastically between
the dry season, when the many streams and small lakes dry up and trees loose their
leaves.
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