Costa Cruises

Volcanoes in Costa Rica

Posted by CostaRica | Costa Rica Guide | Posted on January 18th, 2010

Costa Rica is famous for its active volcanoes. There are a few live steaming volcanoes placed around it, which is really worth seeing.

Poas Volcano
The Poas Volcano refers to the Central Volcanic Cordillera. However, gazing at the Poas from the Central Valley – as well as at the other volcanoes of Costa Rica, it can be really very hard to guess what a mad temper these wooded mountains conceal themselves. To imagine the force the volcano keeps in itself becomes much easier by tending at the top of the edge of the crater.

Just below the crater of the volcano Poas begins the 1.5-kilometer trail that leads to Lake Botos which is filled with rain waters and covered with thick vegetation. One section of the road passes through a rather creepy area covered with small, stunted forest. The branches of the local trees, gnarled and turned out are the reason of the harsh climatic conditions and the vulnerability to such a considerable height. When climbing to Lake Botos, the highest point of the park (2704 m) can be reached. Here, as a rule, one can observe a very interesting and diverse species of birds, such as the fired-necked hummingbirds.

Barva Volcano
The misty top of the volcano Barva is covered with a densely mountain vegetation, and as it’s considered a sleeping volcano, the variety of wildlife in its territory is wider than the one above mentioned. Balanced on at more than 2900 meters above the sea level, Volcano Barva is covered with forests 200 meters higher than the volcano Poas, although it is far from the volcano Irazu, with its 500-meter mark.

Right at the entrance path of Braulio Carrillo National Park the virtually flat land route to 1,5 km will open in front of any visitor, which leads to Laguna Barva, that’s lake of the rain water formed inside the extended inactive crater. La Selva Biological Station offers a special path for the brave travelers with a good physical education, which moves down to a depth of about 35 feet below the sea level, which is in other words, by overcoming the 60 km road, one can go down for up to 3000 meters!

Irazu Volcano
Volcano Irazu, which is 3.432 meters high above the sea level, is considered the highest one in the Central Volcanic Cordillera. The fields of potatoes, cabbages and other vegetables are spread on the southern angle, like a patchwork cover, with some dairy farms on higher altitudes. This peaceful picture, towering over the town of Cartago, is not combined in any ways with the turbulent past of the volcano.

However, as approaching the top of the volcano, its destructive forces are becoming more and more vivid which is proved by its burnt but still standing trees. There are some deep craters surrounded by unproductive, constantly sweep opt wind soil at the top of the volcano which makes the local landscape more like the Moon than the familiar to us Earth. The top of the volcano is located just slightly above the growth of the trees that makes them grow in their full force. Among the small birds living here are the quite concisely named: Junko volcanic and the volcanic hummingbirds.