Guanacaste National Park, in Spanish , is part of the Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site

Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site

The Area de Conservación Guanacaste, is a World Heritage Site in the northwestern part of Costa Rica, which comprises Santa Rosa, Guanacaste, Rincón de la Vieja National Parks and the Junquillal Bay Wildlife Refuge...

, is a National Park

National park

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

 in the northern part of Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

, from the slopes of the Orosí

Orosí Volcano

The Orosí Volcano, in Spanish the , is an inactive volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera de Guanacaste near the border with Nicaragua...

 and Cacao volcano

Volcano

2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

es west to the Interamerican Highway

Pan-American Highway

The Pan-American Highway is a network of roads measuring about in total length. Except for an rainforest break, called the Darién Gap, the road links the mainland nations of the Americas in a connected highway system. According to Guinness World Records, the Pan-American Highway is the world's...

 where it is adjacent to the Santa Rosa National Park

Santa Rosa National Park

Santa Rosa National Park, in Spanish the , is a national park, part of the Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage site, in the northern western part of Costa Rica, originally created to protect the scene of the Battle of Santa Rosa, at its eastern edge lies the Interamerican Highway where...

. It was created in 1989, partially due to the campaigning and fund-raising of Dr. Daniel Janzen

Daniel Janzen

Daniel Hunt Janzen is an evolutionary ecologist, naturalist, and conservationist and the son of a previous Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service...

 to allow a corridor between the dry forest and rain forest areas which many species migrate between seasonally. The park covers an area of approximately 340 square kilometers, and includes 140 species of mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s, over 300 bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s, 100 amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

s and reptile

Reptile

Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

s, and over 10,000 species of insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s that have been identified.

The nearest city is La Cruz to the northwest, and the park contains several facilities notably the headquarters of the Guanacaste Conservation Area

Guanacaste Conservation Area

Guanacaste Conservation Area is an administrative area which is managed by SINAC for the purposes of conservation in the northwestern part of Costa Rica. It contains three National Parks, as well as wildlife refuges and other nature reserves...

, as well as stations at Pitilla in the northeastern corner of the park, Cacao on the southwestern slope of the eponymous volcano, and Maritza which is situated near both volcanoes.

History

In 1989 the park was first established by Executive Decree 19124-MIRENEM/89, to become part of Area de Conservación Guanacaste along with the already existing Santa Rosa and Rincón de la Vieja

Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park

Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park, in Spanish , part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area and the Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site, is a National Park in the northwestern part of Costa Rica which encompasses the Rincón de la Vieja and Santa María volcanoes, as well as the...

 National Parks. As a whole these formally became part of National System of Conservation Units (SINAC) in 1994 and then later in 1999 a World Heritage site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

. In 1995 the Junquillal Bay Wildlife Refuge

Junquillal Bay Wildlife Refuge

Junquillal Bay Wildlife Refuge, also called the Bahia Junquillal National Wildlife Refuge, is a wildlife refuge that is part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area and the Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site in the northwestern part of Costa Rica. It protects areas of tropical dry...

was added to the group of sites.