Costa Rica Area Info: Costa Rica's National Parks

Braulio Carrillo National Park Quick Facts
 
 Weather:
 157 to 315 inches (4,000 to 8,000 mm) of rainfall annually. Temperatures vary widely with elevation from average temperatures of around 79 °F (26 °C) on the lower east slopes to below freezing nights on the peaks and ridges. Driest in March and April while afternoon showers are the norm May through November.
 
 Size:
 117,300 acres (47,500 hectares, 183 square miles, 140 times the size of central park NYC, 4/10ths the size of Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado)
 
 Elevations:
 from 118 feet (36 meters) at La Selva to 9,500 feet (2900 meters)
 
 Established:
 Braulio Carrillo is named after the third president of Costa Rica who proposed the Guápiles Highway from San José to the Caribbean in the early 1800's to allow Pacific slope coffee growers to ship to Europe without circling around South America. Environmentalists were concerned that easy access would lead to deforestation and used the value of the region as a watershed to leverage the establishing the National Park in 1978. The original area has come to be know the Zurquí sector since the addition of the 31,400 acre (12,700 hectare) northern Barva sector in 1986.
 
 Habitats:
 Tropical lowland wet forest (rain forest), tropical highland forest (cloud forest), streams, river
 
 Inhabitants:
 

ExploreCostaRica.com Braulio National Park

More than 500 species of birds including resplendent quetzals, bare-necked umbrella bird, snowcap, brown-billed scythe bill, black-crowned antpitta, golden-browed chlorophonia, flame-throated warblers, long-tailed silky-flycatchers, yellow-eared toucanet, and latticed-tailed trogon. On the lower Caribbean slopes, tanagers and hummingbirds are particularly easy to spot.
 
 More than 150 species of mammals including howler and white faced capuchin monkeys, tapirs, Deppe's squirrel, white-nosed coati, northern tamandua, jaguars, white-tailed deer, ocelots, pacas, raccoons, and peccaries.