Monteverde is a small Spanish town located in Costa Rica. Monteverde means “green mount”. The name is apt for this beautiful town as it is indeed a palette of a variety of shades of green. It has a humid atmosphere and temperatures are not known to go above 22 degree Celsius.
The town attracts more than 2 lakhs tourists every year. The major part of these huge numbers of visitors head to the Monteverde Cloud Forest. It is also known as the Monteverde Santa Elena Reserve. It has about 10,500 hectares of tropical rainforest. It also has a large biodiversity, a rich flora and fauna including some rare species. That is why it is a hotspot among scientists and tourists alike. It also is a host to the famed Quetzal, Bellbird, Emerald Toucanet, Black Guan, Collared Redstart, Blue-crowned Motmot, Kinkajou, Hoffmann’s Two-toed Sloth, and half a dozen or more species of dazzling hummingbirds. American Pumas, Jaguars, Ocelots, and Red Brocket Deer are also inhabitants of the reserve.
The Monteverde Santa Elena Reserve has a hanging bridge that extends for over 325 feet and hangs at a height of 100 feet. It has a mountain lodge which can house 48 people and a restaurant and cafeteria service too. The work of local artisans is promoted through gifts shops from where one can buy the same at economical rates. Scientists’ study is facilitated by a laboratory built for the same. Groups of students visiting the reserve are also educated about the environment through workshops. The fees that are charged to tourists are then used for maintenance of the forest area and its inhabitants and for further research in technology.
Another great attraction at the Santa Elena Reserve is the beautiful butterfly garden. Tourists can watch the life cycle of butterflies from eggs, caterpillar, pupae and adult butterflies. One can capture pictures of hundreds of butterflies present in the garden.
One can just zip from the top of the trees to the ground in the Canopy tour. A hike leads to three platforms of considerable height where one can do rappelling. But the tour does not feature much of wild life seeing.
CASEM is an art and crafts gallery featuring hand painted and embroidered work and other artifacts made by the local population. Ecstasy gallery displays an array of wood work and sculptures. For paintings one can visit the Guindon art gallery.
A serpentarium owned by a local biologist showcases lizards and snakes of numerous types.
A sky walk 3.5 km long on top of trees is located in a private reserve but it remains open to the tourists.
For the music enthusiasts, a music festival featuring Latin, jazz and classical music is held between January and February at Monteverde Costa Rica.
An ecology farm housing coatis, birds, agoutis, sloth, monkeys and porcupines is also a good place to visit. It also has small coffee and banana plantations.
One good website giving information on Monteverde hotels and Monteverde tours is http://www.monteverdeforest.com/. They offer online booking of hotels, tours, transfer services and vacation packages.
Go ahead, witness the beauty of Monteverde for yourself!
Find more information please visit us at http://www.monteverdeforest.com/