Corcovado National Park and Playa Caletas, Costa Rica
Today we visited one of the best looking forests in the world! With almost 42,000 hectares in area and a large array of walking trails, Corcovado National Park is certainly one of the most interesting parks of the Costa Rican National Parks. The tropical rainforests contained within its boundaries are widely considered to be the most species-rich in Central America. We took our choice of activities: long waterfall walk, shorter waterfall walk, flat walk, long exercise walk, or our famous stationary walk. We landed on the beach of San Pedrillo Station inside the Park and the group split accordingly.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not the big organisms that build up a forest, but the littlest of things are the ones which accomplish the hardest labor. Leaf cutter ants’ impact can prove to be enormous. They have been estimated to consume 0.3 tons of foliage per hectare per year, equal to the combined effects of all vertebrates in the forest. Tree dwelling termites, Nasutes sp., contribute to global climatic warming by enhancing the greenhouse effect, plus they consume between 3 – 5% of the annual litter production. Fungi and bacteria contribute to the recycling of carbon into the system and help get rid of decaying material. We all know great things come in small packages!
Once back to our ship, we repositioned to our lunch site. Playa Caletas is owned by a very friendly Costa Rican nicknamed Bambam, he invited us onto his garden, with picnic tables, shading mango trees and nicely kept trails where we could wonder on. The best-liked-places however are always water logged…
Today we visited one of the best looking forests in the world! With almost 42,000 hectares in area and a large array of walking trails, Corcovado National Park is certainly one of the most interesting parks of the Costa Rican National Parks. The tropical rainforests contained within its boundaries are widely considered to be the most species-rich in Central America. We took our choice of activities: long waterfall walk, shorter waterfall walk, flat walk, long exercise walk, or our famous stationary walk. We landed on the beach of San Pedrillo Station inside the Park and the group split accordingly.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not the big organisms that build up a forest, but the littlest of things are the ones which accomplish the hardest labor. Leaf cutter ants’ impact can prove to be enormous. They have been estimated to consume 0.3 tons of foliage per hectare per year, equal to the combined effects of all vertebrates in the forest. Tree dwelling termites, Nasutes sp., contribute to global climatic warming by enhancing the greenhouse effect, plus they consume between 3 – 5% of the annual litter production. Fungi and bacteria contribute to the recycling of carbon into the system and help get rid of decaying material. We all know great things come in small packages!
Once back to our ship, we repositioned to our lunch site. Playa Caletas is owned by a very friendly Costa Rican nicknamed Bambam, he invited us onto his garden, with picnic tables, shading mango trees and nicely kept trails where we could wonder on. The best-liked-places however are always water logged…
