* Park boundaries for reference use only.
Focal Elements of management
Las Baulas National Marine Park is more than leatherbacks! The park protects multiple ecosystems managed in focal elements:
NEsting Beaches
Playa Grande, Playa Ventanas and Playa Langosta are important nesting beaches for leatherback turtles on the Tropical Eastern Pacific (Steyermark, A. et al. 1996). Different threats are affecting the area, but the Park protection of 175 meters alongside the beaches, let a "green curtain" (vegetation) to protect the nesting turtles from light and sound pollution from the human development done inland.
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Wetlands & Mangrove Forest
Las Baulas Park protects 3 different wetlands, included the Tamarindo Wetland, a Ramsar Site of International Importance! This place is important for migratory birds, several mammals such as monkeys, raccoons an deers, and also different reptiles as black iguanas or the american crocodile. San Francisco wetland and Ventanas estuary are also part of this ecosystem.
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Tropical Dry Forest
Cerro Morro Hermoso (Beautiful hill in Spanish) and the beachfront vegetation are the main patches of dry forest in Las Baulas National Marine Park. This secondary forest is in regeneration as it was used formerly for cattle. Birds as the long-tailed manakin, mammals as the white-tailed deer, howler monkey or the lowland paca, reptiles as the black iguana, insects and orchids are part of this endangered ecosystem.
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Marine Area
The Tamarindo Bay and 12 nautical miles from the coast, are protected by this National Marine Park. No only sea turtles use the benthic and neritic systems to move around, it is also used by sharks, rays, cetaceans and other different fauna. Diving is forbidden in the National Park but you can experience the richness of the ocean wildlife snorkeling close to the rocks when the swell is chill.
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Park Regulations*
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Please make any report to +506 2653-0470 ext. 101 or call 9-1-1.
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* Regulations based on Executive Decree N° 36918-MINAET
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