Costa Rica Northern Lowlands

The Northern Lowlands of Costa Rica are perfectly positioned to provide visitors with some of the beautiful and astonishingly varied scenery that the country has to offer. Situated to the east of the province of Guanacaste, north of the capital city of San Jose and the Central Valley, and west of the Caribbean coast, the Northern Lowlands features a wide range of cloud and rain forests, jungles, and rivers, with the area mostly composed of rolling flatlands, with one very large exception - the world famous Arenal Volcano, which contains to spew forth molten rock and ash and is responsible for some of the most breathtaking light shows visitors could ever hope to see.

There are two primary flatlands in the Northern Lowlands, Llanuras de los Guatusos, which is situated in the west of the region toward Guanacaste, and Llanuras de San Carlos, which is positioned to the east of the region. Aside from the Arenal Volcano, there are five other major tourist attractions situated within the Northern Lowlands - Vara Blanca, San Carlos Dock, Venado Caves, Upala and the Cano Negra Wildlife Refuge.

It takes a journey of two thousand meters to reach Vara Blanca, a landscape composed of huge mountains which are themselves filled with trees and an abundance of striking green fauna. To the west of Vara Blanca lies the Poas Volcano, whilst to the east is the Barva Volcano. The heavily forested rim of the mountaintop lagoon of Poas Volcano can be walked around by tourists, who are given the chance to observe the extraordinary view of the smoldering volcano on the opposing side. On the southern slope of the Poas Volcano lies La Paz River, which features one of the most incredible waterfalls in the whole of Costa Rica, La Paz Waterfall and the adjoining La Paz Waterfall Gardens, a conservation park dedicated to preserving the area's unique fauna, flora and cultural heritage. The valley in which La Paz River is situated ultimately joins up with the Sarapiqui Valley.

Other waterfalls located in the Gardens, in addition to the major La Paz Waterfall, are known as El Tempo, Magia Blanca, Encantada and Escondida. La Paz Waterfall Gardens also contain a hummingbird garden, a serpentarium, a ranarium, an orchid garden and a butterly observatory that is credited as being the biggest in the entire world. The Gardens also feature over three and a half kilometers worth of hiking trails, the primary one being the three hundred and fifty meters long 'Trail of the Falls', which offers visitors jaw-dropping views of those four waterfalls. All trails within the Gardens are well marked, and while guides are available, are generally not considered to be necessary. The Gardens are, therefore, essentially an ideal solution for those wanting the rain forest experience without wanting to put themselves too far away from the comforts of modern civilisation. Wildlife that thrives within the La Paz Waterfall Gardens include black and yellow silky flycatchers, honey creepers, mountain Elaenias, parrots, quetzals, sooty robins, tanagers and toucans.

Near to Vara Blanca, for those visitors with either a great deal of patience or easy access to a four wheel drive vehicle, are the three hidden lagoons of the nearby town of Cariblanco, Chinchona's own San Fernando Waterfall, which stands a hundred and twenty meteres tall, and various coffee and strawberry plantations that are situated close to Vara Blanca itself. Transportation to Vara Blanca is infrequent and can be difficult to arrange, but all those that have sampled its unique beauty would agree that any effort is well worth the reward.

The San Carlos Dock is famous primarily for its enormous nearby sugar lands, but is actually of vital importance to the region due to the river it is situated on, which is easy to navigate on. The dock is divided into two sections, with a larger section that is fenced off and guarded - this is where the big steel hulled ships and the larger but shallow drafted river boats go to dock; the smaller section is for the use of everyone else with every other kind of water based vehicle, from personal craft to water taxis to general fishing boats. The town of San Carlos itself is widely regarded as a beautiful part of Costa Rica's countryside and, although there are little in the way of activities to keep tourists interested there, it is widely regarded as a safe and friendly port of call.

Literally stumbled upon in 1945 (although the Guatazos Aborigines were in fact the first people to discover them), the Venado Caves, situated just south of La Fortuna, are made up of soft, malleable limestone and were created an astonishing fifteen to twenty million years ago during the Miocene Period. The cave system, which run for about two and a half kilometers, features an incredible array of corals, limestone rock formations, stalactites and stalagmites and is accessible thanks to an official tour which runs for about an hour and a half and which allows visitors to safely explore the caves and its fascinating inhabitants - crickets, bats, spiders and various other forms of insect life - and marine fossils (the caves were originally below sea level until tectonic movements in the earth brought them above ground).

The tunnels within the caves vary in size to an extraordinary degree, with some tunnels featuring ceilings of over twenty meters in height, but others coming so low that visitors have to seriously squeeze to make it through! Needless to say, it is not recommended that tourists attempt to explore the cave system without the presence of an experienced guide. The Venada Caves tour is often described as the darkest and creepiest tourist experience legitimately offered in the whole of Costa Rica, which is usually regarded as being something of a compliment!

Located around nine kilometers from the southern border of Nicaragua, in the northwestern corner of the Northern Lowlands, the small town of Upala is home to around fifteen thousand inhabitants and is the region's primary home of both cattle ranchers and rice growers and is a popular spot for national and international businessmen. Upala, which lies around two hundred and fourteen kilometers from the capital city of San Jose and seventy six kilometers southwest of La Cruz, is also often passed through by visitors travelling to both Cano Negro and to Los Chiles, although it is becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination in its own right.

The Cano Negra Wildlife Refuge is a wetlands site that provides sanctuary and shelter to a great number of life forms, many of them endangered, including cougars, jaguars, tapirs, ocelots, peccary and various different species of monkeys (such as Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, the white headed capuchin and the mantled howler). In the dry season, the wetlands are usually reduced to little more small lagoons, beaches and channels which nonetheless also provide a purpose, giving home to thousands of migratory birds from species as diverse as anhingas, cormorants, ducks, ibis, spoonbills and storks in addition to the Lake Cano Negra, which is fed during the rainy season by the Frio River, a defining feature of the local landscape. Between April and July the park is closed for the fishing season.

The Northern Lowlands are a must see destination for anyone planning to holiday in Costa Rica.