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Caño Negro National Wildlife Refuge |
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Caño Negro is quite off the beaten path, but worth the effort. Most visits start out at Los Chiles where you board a boat and glide up the Río Frío through canyons of green towards the everglade like Lago Caño Negro. Migration plays a big role in the population of the waterways; you may see a bull shark's fin slice the surface; this area is the end of their annual trip up the Río Nicaragua from the sea, but most people come to spot migratory birds.
During the green (rainy) season from May to October, water from the mountains is plentiful and the Río Frío overflows its banks to form Lago Caño Negro positioned smack in the middle of the flyway for migrant North and South American birds. Millions of birds arrive here to winter over during the dry season beginning in December. The water level falls continuously for the next three to four months until all that is left is the main channel of the Río Frío and the migrants depart.
Among the many birds found in Caño Negro are: glossy Ibis, black-necked stilt, neotropical cormorants, American anhinga, northern jacana, American widgeon, wood stork, white Ibis, black-bellied tree duck, northern shoveler, snail kite, green backed heron, roseate spoonbill, and blue-winged teal. This is one of the best places to see the Nicaraguan grackle, whose only Costa Rican habitat is Caño Negro and other marshy areas just south of Lake Nicaragua.
Animals: spider, capuchin and howler monkeys, spectacled caiman, crocodile, jaguar, cougar, tayra, ocelot, tapir, white-tailed deer, jesus-christ lizard, black river turtle, green iguana
Fish: Snook, guapote, alligator gar, drum fish, tarpon, and bull sharks
The Río Frío has good fishing for snook, guapote, alligator gar, drum, and huge tarpon (fish stories claim up to 100 kg or 220 lbs). Fishing is allowed in the reserve from July 1 to March 31, license $US 30 from the ranger station in Caño Negro village. There are no established high profile fishing guide outfits currently operating, but if you are willing to round up a boat and provide most of your own tackle, Caño Negro is a well kept fishing secret.
East of Los Chiles, the Río Medio Queso spreads into a shallow wetlands when rainfall is plentiful. The region near the border is officially protected by the Corredor Fronterízo National Wildlife Refuge, but the whole area is excellent for wildlife viewing.
Caño Negro isn't particularly near anything. When we visited, we embarked on a small boat at Los Chiles with our bicycles stacked to one side spent the cay on the river and lake then disembarked at Caño Negro village, where we continued west and south. If you are traveling by bus, your only option is back towards La Fortuna Arenal and San José. If you are driving, there is no bridge over the Río Frío at Los Chiles, you have to turn west off the main road about 6 miles (10 km) south to reach the nearest bridge at San Emilio to drive to Caño Negro village and on to Upala (4WD recommended year round and required in the rainy season).
When to visit:
This area has some of the lowest rainfall totals for Costa Rica. Even during the rainy season when the rivers are overflowing their banks, most to the rain is falling farther south then running into this region.
There are advantages to visiting any time of year. The dry season runs January through April and it's driest towards the end of this period. Average of 98 inches (2,500 mm) rainfall per year, and 5 hours of sunshine per day.
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Services & Amenities |
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Attractions & Activities |
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Visitor & Contact Info |
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Quick Facts |
Caño Negro National Wildlife Refuge covers 9969 hectares. Elevations range from 30 to 100 meters (98 to 328 feet).
The habitats represented here are margin/edge
freshwater river
pasture/farm
regenerating
tropical rainforest-lowland
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