Costa Rica 2019 Diary – Monteverde

We have visited several natural parks (Arenal Volcano, Irazú Volcano, Poás Volcano, and Manuel Antonio), but the one I was the most excited about was Monteverde.

Selvatura Park is a nature and adventure park located in Monteverde which offers various activities and tours based on your interest, physical limitations, time and money. One of the things that never cease to amaze me is how expensive these activities are. We wanted to do a 2,5-hour walk through the cloud forest but first, it’s $70 per person and second, we would have to carry Chloe-Sofia most of the time on our back. We did it last year in Manuel Antonio National Park where we used this Stokke carrier but this year we didn’t find a suitable carrier for a 14-kg-toddler.

In the end we chose the Treetop Bridges Suspension Tour ($35 per person and only 1,5 hour long).

It’s hard to put in words how breathtaking experience that was. All I can say is that everyone should visit a cloud forest once in their life to realize how precious ecosystem it is and that we have to start taking seriously how much damage we are making to nature. There is no planet B. If we don’t change the way we live, make more eco-conscious and sustainable choices, we won’t leave anything for the next generations.

Everyone was warning me about the trip – the road to Monteverde was supposed to be rough. As we were driving up, I started to have doubts about our accommodation.

There are many tours that we didn’t have time to do (horseback riding, tree climbing or zip lining) and I hope we will come back soon as Monteverde is magical, breathtaking and unforgettable.

Situated 1,440m above sea level, Monteverde (“Green Mountain”) is a large natural conservation area that inhabited by tens of thousands of diverse insects, 2,500 species of plants, 400 varieties of birds and over 100 types of mammals.

Monteverde’s cloud forests are the byproduct of fog tangling amongst the leaves and branches of the forest canopy. When these water-based clouds come into contact with solid plant material, the plant absorbs what it needs, and the remaining water condenses and drips down — layer by layer, organism by organism — until it reaches the forest floor.

This natural ‘waterwheel’ is what maintains Costa Rica’s impressive ecosystem.

Monte Verde Info

Cloud forests cover less than 1% of the total land mass of the Earth, yet Monteverde is part of that 1% which also hosts 4% of the entire world’s biodiversity.

Selvatura