Size: 49,515 hectars
Distance from San José: 260 km.
Trails: Yes, from 1 to 20 km.
Dry Season: January through March
Santa Rosa National Park was created in 1971 to commemorate and preserve
the historical setting of the Battle of Santa Rosa (March 20, 1856) including
the historical mansion and the stonewall corrals. Moreover, it protects
the savannah and decidious forest, marshlands, and mangroves, and abundant
animal life, including several endagered species. It also has lovely recreational
beaches.
Much has changed since then, Santa Rosa National Park now
protects remaining fragments of tropical dry forest, housing many different
species of flora and fauna, such as coyotes, peccaries, coatimundis, tapirs
and many varyeties of sea and land turttles.
You can expect to find wooden savanna on both sides of the
entrance road and all throughout the park. These grasslands are
not a natural occurrence, but the result of extensive slash and burn practices.
Never the less big efforts in reforestation and conservation are paying
off, transforming the land back to what it used to be. There is
a new addition to the park, the Murcielago or "bat" section,
located in the southeast of the town called Cuajiniquil, on the Santa
Elena Peninsula, consisting mostly of spectacular rocky peaks and valleys,
which currently are undergoing serious ecological reforestation efforts.
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