Los Quetzales National Park is located in the Los Santos area, in southern Costa Rica, between the province of San Gerardo de Dota on the Talamanca mountain range and the Savegre river basin. About 80 km from San José, the capital. It has an area of 5.21 hectares.
The Park includes three different forest types, 14 ecosystems, and particular wealth of flora and fauna. The Park is made up of vacant and state lands as well as the Los Santos Forest Reserve and the Cerro Vueltas Biological Reserve, in the cantons of Dota and Tarrazu (San José) and Aguirre (Puntarenas).
The area where the Park is located was taken into consideration for a nature conservation and recovery project as a biological corridor since the late 1970s. It was created in conjunction with the Spanish cooperation agency, as a project for the sustainable development of the Rio Savegre basin and is symbolically twinned with the Garajonay National Park in Spain.
It has different altitudinal tiers, which generates its biological variety including seasonal lagoons, wetlands, cloud forests, and the paramo. With a very important hydrological function for these forests protecting the Savegre river basin, and safeguarding the habitats of endemic species including as nesting point for the amazing Quetzal birds.
Hikers will be delighted by the long nature trails that Los Quetzales National Park presents that will guide them through the shade of trees covered by mosses and bromeliads with many bamboos and ferns. On the way seeing swamps and climbing up to the paramo with its lunar landscape up to 2800 m altitude.
The Park protects more than 45 species of mammals, among which stand out tapirs, wild goats, felines, tolomucos, monkeys, gulls, bats, rabbits, coatis, raccoons, among others.
As for the birds, around 300 species are protected, including Quetzales, yigurros, hummingbirds, tangaras, turkeys, orioles, trogons, hawks, warblers, climbers, carpenters and seedbeds.
About the weather, precipitation ranges from 2000 to 3000 mm per year. The temperature ranges from 12 to 28 degrees Celsius on average. The dry season runs from December to April, and the rainy season from May to November.
