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Cahuita National Park | Half Day Hike – Entrance Puerto Vargas
Enjoy your hike trip starting point at Entrance Peurto Vargas of Cahuita National Park.
If you like to escape the crowd and enjoy the primary rainforest, with old giant trees, from the swamp forest to the most extensive coral reefs on the Caribbean coast from Costa Rica, this is your tour.
Meet many species, like monkeys, sloths, iguanas, lizards, yellow viper snakes (eyelash viper snakes), and more, and not to forget the fantastic flora, fauna, and beaches.
Cahuita National Park | Entrance Vargas Half Day Hike – What to expect?
This half day of Hiking has the starting point at Puerto Vargas and goes halfway to the point of Cahuita National Park to the central point of Cahuita Point.
There are two entrances to Cahuita National Park. The best-known one is from the village of Cahuita itself. On the other end is the entrance to ‘Puerto Vargas.’
If you want to escape the crowd and are more interested in old rainforests with giant trees and more of this type of flora and fauna, this side of the park is a great option.
Besides, there is more infrastructure, making walking more accessible for travelers.
The first part of the track consists of a 2-mile long overspan that leads through the forest, giving a unique opportunity to observe the surroundings.
The trail ends close to the beach, with fewer people than the Cahuita side. Here, we take a break to eat some fresh fruits & chocolate and chill before returning to spot more wildlife.
Duration
Approximately: 2.5 hours.
What to bring with you
Sunscreen, drinking water, easy shoes, a towel, and eventually, rain cover swim clothes if you want a fresh dip in the sea. It can sometimes be challenging to make a valid weather forecast! [It is not allowed to bring food in The Cahuita National Park].
Our Tour guides
Our guides are genuinely local and experienced tour professionals. They harbor a sincere and profound passion for nature and wildlife, deeply respect Costa Rican culture, are thoroughly prepared, and are licensed by the ICT (Costa Rican Tourism Institute).
Pricing
For pricing, see the shop product page and the “Additional Information” Tab; minimum group size [adults] = two persons. For youngster discounts, visit the product page!
What is Included
A local experienced tour guide.
Meeting Point and Directions
The entrance at Puerto Vargas of the Cahuita National Park. It is next to the bus stop.
About Cahuita National Park
The Cahuita National Park is located in the Southern part of the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica and was founded in 1978. It is still the only national park in Costa Rica that depends exclusively on donations. These are used to keep the park in the best possible conditions, free of pollution, and to ensure the safety of the wildlife and visitors.
The entrance at the site of Puerto Vargas is one bus stop from Cahuita to Puerto Viejo. You’ll arrive at the ranger station entry for Cahuita National Park, where you’ll pay your $5.00 USD fee to enter the park, which is included in the tour.
Both cars and pedestrians can enter here, and there is a bus stop along the main road if you arrive or leave by bus, so you can take the bus to one entrance and leave via the other. There are showers, toilets, and parking 2.3km from here at the Puerto Vargas info center (you can’t drive further).
The Cahuita Park offers a variety of adventurous, wildlife, hiking, and trekking tours offered by our tour guides. The Coral Reef at The National Park of Cahuita is protected and can only be visited with the assistance of tour guides with a permit.
It is the largest fringing reef in the Caribbean in the country. This reef consists of three barriers, and it is a protected coral reef; the outer barrier stretches for 3 miles from the Western side of Punta Cahuita to the Eastern side; it is separated from the coast between 100 m and 2 miles.
It is a nesting ground for sea turtles, but that is not all you will see if you go scuba-diving or snorkeling. The Reef is filled with over 240 marine life, including tropical fish species, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, manta rays, and even three species of sharks that call the coralline reef home.
There are at least 35 species of coral, over 120 species of fish, and many mollusks and crustaceans.
Wildlife
Cahuita National Park is home to numerous species of wildlife. Among the more common mammals are armadillos, raccoons, sloths, howlers, and capuchin monkeys.
There are many species of reptiles and amphibians, including blue jeans dart frogs and red-eyed-leaf frogs, green iguanas, whip-tailed lizards, green vine snakes, and boa constrictors.
Perhaps the most notable reptile is the yellow eyelash pit viper, a brilliant golden-yellow color. Many birds inhabit the park, including keel-billed and chestnut mandible toucans, fiery-billed aracaris, oropendolas, parakeets, parrots, herons, egrets, and more.
Nature, Flora, and Fauna Puerto Vargas
The half-day tour from Puerto Vargas inherits a different flora and fauna than Cahuita. The swamp forest and ancient trees, as well as the quote of birds, make it worthwhile.
On poorly drained land in forested lowlands, where the ground is firmer than in Ravi swamps, one finds wooded swamps with buttressed Pteropus trees and various palms, all burdened with many lianas. Habitat of Green Ibis, Rufescent Tiger-Heron and Green-and-rufous Kingfisher.
Most of the ground on this evergreen swamp forest is underwater most of the year; decaying vegetation and poor drainage allow tannins to accumulate, producing the characteristic ‘Backwaters’.
Luckily, they constructed a long elevated footpath over the forest floor, a unique way to experience this Neo-tropical rainforest.
The half day tour from Puerto Vargas inherits a different flora and fauna compared to Cahuita. The swamp forest and ancient trees, as well as the quote of birds, make it definitely worthwhile.
On poorly drained land in forested lowlands, where the ground is firmer than in Ravi swamps, one finds wooded swamps with buttressed Pteropus trees and various palms, all burdened with many lianas. Habitat of Green Ibis, Rufescent Tiger-Heron and Green-and-rufous Kingfisher.
Most of the ground on this evergreen swamp forest is underwater most or all of the year; decaying vegetation and poor drainage allow tannins to accumulate, producing the characteristic ‘Backwaters’.
Luckily, they constructed a long elevated footpath over the forest floor, a unique way to experience this Neo tropical rainforest.
Marine Life
Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals, and other organisms that live in the salt water of the sea or ocean or the brackish water of coastal estuaries.
At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. Marine organisms, mostly microorganisms, produce oxygen and sequester carbon.
Marine life, in part, shape and protect shorelines, and some marine organisms even help create new land (like coral-building reefs). Most life forms evolved initially in marine habitats. By volume, oceans provide about 90% of the living space on the planet.
The earliest vertebrates appeared as fish, which live exclusively in water. Some of these evolved into amphibians, which spend portions of their lives in water and portions on land.
One group of amphibians evolved into reptiles and mammals, and a few subsets of each returned to the ocean as sea snakes, sea turtles, seals, manatees, and whales.
Plant forms such as kelp and other algae grow in the water and are the basis for some underwater ecosystems. Plankton creates the general foundation of the ocean food chain, particularly phytoplankton, which are key primary producers.
Marine invertebrates exhibit many modifications to survive in poorly oxygenated waters, including breathing tubes, as in mollusk siphons.
Fish have gills instead of lungs, although some fish species, such as lungfish, have both. Marine mammals (like dolphins, whales, otters, and seals) must surface periodically to breathe air.
Cahuita Reef has over 500 fish species, including three types of sharks, which you might encounter while snorkeling, but a dozen of other fish species like dolphins, blue parrot fish, rock beauty, the French angelfish, and even the dangerous scorpion fish.
Cahuita National Park | Half Day Hike – Entrance Puerto Vargas
National Park Cahuita | Entrance Vargas - Half Day Hike
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National Park Cahuita | Entrance Vargas - Half Day Hike
This is our gallery. “Check it out!”
