Located north east from the Central Valley, above the Central Volcanic Mountain range, between the solids of Poás and Irazú volcanoes. Include the Barva and Cacho Negro volcanoes, extends from the Alto de La Palma (Moravia) up to the biologic Station La Selva (Sarapiquí). Created by means of the law No. 8357-A, of April 5,1978. Its extension is of 45.899.2 hectares.
This park is dedicated to the Worthy of the Country Lic. Braulio Carrillo, third State Representative of Costa Rica (1835-37 and 1838-42), who open a road that communicates the Central Valley with Matina in the Atlantic coast.
This area is located in one of the most irregular topography zone. The view is constituted by high mountains cover by dense forests and innumerable rivers. The topography and high precipitation, about 4.500mm annual average, give place to infinitive of waterfalls.
The park has several inactive volcanoes. The Cacho Negro very visible by its conifer shape and the Barva with several craters, the Barva lagoon, round of 70mts of diameter and fresh water, and the Danta lagoon of 500 Mts. of diameter. The Tres Marías hills that you can observe very clearly since San José City.
The vegetation of the park is the one of an always-green forest of great flower dense. The forest present varieties according to the environment conditions, topography, drainage, temperature, cloudy and precipitation.
The highest forests with mayor amount of species are located on the lowest parts. In the highest and broken parts the tees are smaller and the number of species is less. The mayor part of the forest is cover by a primary forest, in which exist about 6.000 of plants species that represent the half of the total species in the country. The manú, caoba, oak, caobilla and gavilan are very common.
You can also found tha botarrama, the ceiba, the yos, the lorito and the ojoche, other species although are in danger of extinct, like the nazareno, el jícaro, the palmito dulce and the súrtuba. In the highest parts of the park specific in Barva Volcano the flora is characteristic of a cloudy forest, with species like the ciprecillo, candelillo, whit oak and cedrillo.
The park present great variety in the wildlife. You can notice the rich bird wild represented in almost 515 bird's species between residents and migrations. You can observe the king of the zopilotes, the umbrella bird, the linnet and quetzal.
Between the mammals species you can notice the white face monkeys, the danta, the puma and jaguar, the saíno, the bear, the martilla, the cabro del monte, the guatusa and coyote. Also you can found species en danger of extinct because of the hunting like the pavón and tepezcuinte. The frogs are very common in this area. In the Barva Volcano you can found another specie the sapo Bufa Holdridgei also the matabuey and the biggest poisonous snake of the continent.
Park Facilities and Hours
All three ranger stations within Braulio Carrillo National Park are open from 8:00am to 4:00pm. Several scenic hiking trails wind through the different sectors, and trail guides are available.
Restrooms, picnic areas, and facilities are available only at the ranger stations, and it is highly recommended that further exploration of the park be undertaken with an experienced guide.
