Palo Verde National Park and Dr. Rafael Lucas Rodriguez National Wildlife Refuge

Size: 13,058 hectares
Distance from San José: 240 kilometers
Dry season: January through March

This park and refuge are part of the biogeographical unit known as the "Tempisque Lowlands". These flooded plains form a mosaic of diverse habitats which are divided by rivers and a range of limestone mountains peaks. The flat part is made up of alluvial plains that date back to the Quaternay epoch which began a million years ago.

You must be very careful because Africanized honeybees have set up permanent residence in the park. Be sure to ask someone of the park before entering any part of the park. There are some places that will be off-limits because of the bee danger.

The Palo Verde region is subject to vast, seasonal inundations. During the rainy season and due to the poor natural drainage system of plains, a cumulative effect of rain, tides and the overflowing of the Tempisque and Bebedero rivers flood the region. In some exceptional cases, the entire zone turns into an immense lake.

Palo Verde is one of the regions with the greatest ecological variety in the country. There are more than 12, habitats, These are formed by the topography, soil conditions, natural damming that occurs in the rivers, and tidal action.

In both wilderness areas, 148 species of trees have been identified. One of the most prevalent, from which the park takes its name, is the palo verde or horse bean. This shrub, which is entirely green from its leaves to its branches to even part of its trunk, grows both in the swamps and other habitats. Among the largest trees are the espave, silk cotton, spiny cedar, gonzalo alves, barrigon and Panama wood.

The natural network of waterways in Palo Verde provides the ideal conditions for the largest concentration of waterfowl and wading birds in Costa Rica and all of Central America.
As of now, from September to March, hundreds of thousands of herons, storks, egrets, grebes, ibis, ducks and jacanas flock to the lakes and neighboring areas to feed and mate. In both wilderness areas, identification has been made of 300 species of bird, including both land and waterfowl. It is also a vital nesting place for the glossy ibis, anhinga, roseate spoonbill an endangered species, nest in the forested areas of both the park and the refuge.

These forest are also home to the only population of scarlet macaws in the Dry Pacific.
Palo Verde is a wilderness area of extraordinary scenic beauty, as much in the dry as in the rainy season, although the mosquitoes can on occasions cause the visitor to use a large amount of insect repellent. Among the nature spots that are worth visiting are the look-outs on Catalina and Guayacán Peaks, two of the most spectacular in the country: the tiger cave (in the refuge) and the hollow stone (in the park) which are magnificent limestone formations that are both caves and veritable handing gardens; and Bocana Lake (in the park which gives shelter to an incredible number of birds all year long.

Habitats found in the park: lakes and fresh-water and brackish swamps, black mangrove grasslands, mangrove swamps, rough-leaf tree grasslands, thorn scrub, lowland mixed deciduous forest, hillside mixed forest, riparian forest, savannah woodland, swamp forest and evergreen forest.

Birds found here: herons, storks (wood stork), egrets, grebes, ibis, ducks (black-bellied tree duck) and jacanas, blue-winged teal, jabiru, scarlet macaw.

Animals found in the park: howler monkey, white-faced capuchin monkey, white-nosed coati, white-tailed deer, tree squirrel, mexican tree porcupine, coyote, crocodiles up to 5 meters long and Pacific sharpnose sharks, have been seen in the Tempisque River.