Monteverde Tour

The spectacular Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Feels like walking in a grandiose green Cathedral. Wind-sculptured elfin woodlands on the exposed ridges are spectacularly dwarfed, whereas protected cove Monteverde rainforests have majestically tall trees.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve:

Established in 1972 by a coalition of scientists from the Tropical Science Center (TSC) and Quakers from the local community to protect one of the last tracts of pristine Cloud Forest in Central America, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve is a pioneer and progressive conservation and ecotourism model based in biodiversity research and education.

Hazy mist, trailing foliage, and the mysterious call of rare birds. It sounds like something from a fantasy or adventure film, but this dream world can be found in Monteverde, Costa Rica’s cloud forests. Cloud forests take their name from their very literal nature.

Often taking the form of fog, low-hanging clouds hover around the upper canopy of the forest before condensing onto the leaves of trees and dripping onto the plants below. The sky essentially comes down to the forest, enabling you to actually walk through the clouds — especially when you take a canopy tour on a suspension bridge.

Understandably, the sun has a hard time breaking through this thick veil of clouds. This causes a slower rate of evaporation and thus provides the plants with a bounty of life-giving moisture. This moisture helps to promote a huge amount of biodiversity, particularly within the type of plants known as epiphytes.

These plants grow on other plants (including trees) non-parasitically, collecting their moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, and debris that surround them. Common examples include lichens, orchids, and bromeliads, all of which are abundant in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Cloud forests also tend to host a large number of endemic species, as their unique climates and specialized ecosystems create habitats that are not found anywhere else on Earth.

Climate change is expected to seriously alter the nature of Monteverde’s cloud forests. Models suggest that the low-level cloud coverage will be reduced, and as a result, temperatures will go up. This could cause the forests’ hydrological cycle to change and potentially even dry up. This alarming theory gives travelers all the more reason to act in environmentally responsible ways both at home and abroad.