Poás Volcano National Park, in Spanish , 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...

 that covers an area of approximately 16000 acres (64.7 km²); the summit is 8900 feet (2,712.7 m). One of the attractive features about Poás is that you can get all the way to the edge of the crater. The 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...

 is located in the Central Volcanic Conservation Area

Central Volcanic Conservation Area

Central Volcanic Conservation Area is an administrative area which is managed by SINAC for the purposes of conservation in the central part of Costa Rica, notably the volcanic areas of the Cordillera Central...

 located in the Alajuela Province

Alajuela Province

Alajuela is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the north-central part of the country, bordering Nicaragua to the north, and clockwise the provinces Heredia, San José, Puntarenas and Guanacaste...

 near the Pacific coast 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....

, which encompasses the area around the Poás Volcano

Poás Volcano

The Poás Volcano, in Spanish Volcán Poás, is an active stratovolcano in central Costa Rica. Poás has erupted 39 times since 1828.- Crater lakes :...

. The main crater

Volcanic crater

A volcanic crater is a circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a basin, circular in form within which occurs a vent from which magma erupts as gases, lava, and ejecta. A crater can be of large dimensions, and sometimes of great depth...

 is 950 feet (289.6 m) deep and is quite active with frequent small geyser and lava eruptions, however the last major eruptions were during 1952-54. Two more craters make up parts of the park, the extinct Von Frantzuis crater and the Botos crater. Botos is a beautiful cold, green water crater lake

Crater lake

A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater or caldera, such as a maar; less commonly and with lower association to the term a lake may form in an impact crater caused by a meteorite. Sometimes lakes which form inside calderas are called caldera lakes, but often this distinction is not...

 with a diameter of 1200 feet (365.8 m). The Botos crater

Volcanic crater

A volcanic crater is a circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a basin, circular in form within which occurs a vent from which magma erupts as gases, lava, and ejecta. A crater can be of large dimensions, and sometimes of great depth...

 has not erupted for about 7,500 years. Well-marked trails will take you to see the two inactive craters. The park is frequently closed to visitors because of sulphuric gas emissions. There are a number of indications that the volcano is slowly building towards a new eruption over the last decade.

Flora and fauna

The park maintains a variety of wild plant and animal species, such as the Poas Magnolia tree, and Bangs's Mountain Squirrel

Bangs's Mountain Squirrel

Bangs's Mountain Squirrel is a nearly unknown species of tree squirrel, that only lives in Costa Rica and Panama. It can be found in mountain rain forests at an altitude between 1900 and 2600 meters, and lives mainly in the tree tops, but sometimes on the forest floor as well...

. It is home to many bird species, including the Clay-colored Robin and the Resplendent Quetzal

Resplendent Quetzal

The Resplendent Quetzal, Pharomachrus mocinno, is a bird in the trogon family. It is found from southern Mexico to western Panama . It is well known for its colorful plumage. There are two subspecies, P. m. mocinno and P. m...

 and varieties of hummingbird

Hummingbird

Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...

s, tanager

Tanager

The tanagers comprise the bird family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has an American distribution.There were traditionally about 240 species of tanagers, but the taxonomic treatment of this family's members is currently in a state of flux...

s, flycatcher

Flycatcher

There are various families of bird termed flycatchers:* The Old World flycatchers, Muscicapidae* The Tyrant flycatchers, Tyrannidae* The Monarch flycatchers, Dicruridae* The Silky-flycatchers, Ptilogonatidae* The Fairy flycatchers, Stenostiridae...

s and toucan

Toucan

Toucans are members of the family Ramphastidae of near passerine birds from the Neotropics. The family is most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and about forty different species...

s.

See also

• Tourism in Costa Rica
  Tourism in Costa Rica
  Tourism in Costa Rica is one of the fastest growing economic sectors of the country and by 1995 became the largest foreign exchange earner. Since 1999, tourism earns more foreign exchange than bananas, pineapples and coffee exports combined...
  
  
• List of volcanoes in Costa Rica
• National Parks of Costa Rica
  National Parks of Costa Rica
  There are currently 26 National Parks of Costa Rica, which are managed under the umbrella of SINAC , a department of Costa Rica's Ministry of Environment and Energy ....
  
  

External links

• Poás Volcano National Park at Costa Rica National Parks