National Parks

POAS VOLCANO

Area:
5,600 Ha

Location: In the Central Volcanic Mountain Range, 37 Km north of Alajuela on the Alajuela-San Pedro de Poas route.

Poas Volcano, 2,708 meters high, is one of the most spectacular in the country. This park protects various types of forest containing abundant epiphytes and parasitic plants growing on the tree trunks.

Poas's crater is an enormous, gaping hole one kilometer in diameter and 314 meters deep. At the bottom, there is a circular hot lake. The long-extinct von Frantzius composite cone -the oldest eruptive center on the massif, is at the north of the artic crater. Another cone named Botos is to the southwest. It was the active center until 7,500 years ago and now contains an astonishingly beautiful cold water lake some 400 meters in diameter.

The park presents four major habitats: an area of arrayans, a stunded forest, a cloud forest and areas with little or no vegetation.

Small animal life is scarce, although birds abound. Some of the 79 species observed include the sooty robin, black guan, resplendent quetzal, green tucan and flame-throated warbler.