Chirripó

Chirripó National Park was established in 1975 in the Talamanca range, in southern Costa Rica, and protects some 502 km². Its summit, Cerro Chirripó, reaches 3,819 metres and is the highest point in the country and in the whole of southern Central America.

Its singular value is the páramo: above the treeline stretches a formation of shrubs and tussock grasses known as the Isthmian páramo, restricted to this range and extremely rich in endemics, the northernmost on the continent. The massif also preserves clear traces of Quaternary glaciation — cirques, U-shaped valleys, moraines and glacial lakes — which is exceptional at this tropical latitude and one of the arguments for its scientific value. Below the páramo come cloud forest, high-altitude oak forest and humid rainforest.

The ascent of Chirripó is one of the best-known treks in Central America and is subject to a strict quota with advance booking. The park forms part of the World Heritage property Talamanca Range-La Amistad Reserves, inscribed in 1983, and of the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve, designated by UNESCO in 1982 over 584,592 hectares that take in several protected areas and four indigenous reserves.