Orosí Volcano in Costa Rica
Overview of Orosí Volcano in Costa Rica
The Orosí Volcano is an inactive stratovolcano located in the Guanacaste mountain range. It is 30 km away from La Cruz a town near the northern border with Nicaragua. This volcano reaches a height of 1,440m above sea level. The Volcan Orosí has some minor volcanoes really close to it like the Cacao, Orosillito and the Pedregal volcanoes. All of them together form a group called Conjunto Volcan Orosí-Cacao. This group of volcanoes covers around 200-257 km2. The Orosí Volcano is part of the Guanacaste National Park. At the base of the mountain, the Maritza Biological Station is located where they study the aquatic biology on the Tempisque River that originates at the base of the Orosí Volcano.
History of Orosí Volcano
Orosí is an indigenous word of Chorotega origin. Orosí was the name of the Cacique that ruled over the lands around the volcano back in 1524. In 1745 the name of the volcano appears in a record for the first time. In the book ¨History of Costa Rica¨ it talks about the Spanish colonization (1052-1821). It appears in the book with a ¨Z¨ and without the accent on the ¨I¨ (Orozi). It wasn´t until 1761 that the Bishop Bernardo Augusto Thiel mentioned the name of the volcano the way it is known in the present day. He mentioned it in the diary he wrote when he was exploring the territory of the Maleku indigenous.
The volcano covers an area of 50 km2. It has a conical shape. The volcano has a cracked and demolished crater about 1 km in diameter. The Orosí hasn´t registered any eruptive activity since the Pre-Hispanic period. It has been estimated that the volcano´s last eruption happened around 3500 B.C approximately. This is the only volcano in the Guanacaste Mountain Range that doesn´t present any secondary activity like fumaroles, etc.
Flora and Fauna in the Area
The flora and fauna of the Orosí Volcano are protected within the boundaries of the Guanacaste National Park created on the 5th of June 1951. This national park is in the Guanacaste Conservation Area, one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, making the area worthy of being declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999. The region of the Orosí Volcano is mostly dry tropical forest. The protected area has diverse ecosystems that house around 5,000 species of butterflies, 2,000 of those haven´t even been described yet. Also, there are 1,500 varieties of plants, 300 species of birds and 140 species of mammals. In the park you can find a lot of trees that have valuable wood for commercial purposes such as the cenízaro, mahogany, ron ron, laurel, pochote, guapinol, encino, cristóbal, oak, guácimo, guanacaste, cedar, madroño and guachipelín. Some of these trees are 450 years old. At the summit of the Orosí Volcano, there is a variety of bromelias, orchids, ferns, mosses and araceas. Among the birds that live in this area you can find the jilguero, pava, zacua mayor, tucancillo, zopilote rey, and the spectacled owl. Some of the mammals that inhabit the park are: tepezcuintles, whitetail deers, jaguars, pumas, tapirs, armadillos, and the two-toed sloth.
Visiting Orosí Volcano
The first scientific ascent recorded in history was made by the German explorer Dr. Karl Sapper. This explorer climbed the Orosí Volcano on February 1st 1899. In 1923, Otoniel Vega, a school teacher, who later became the Governor of the Province of Guanacaste, climbed all the way to the top of the volcano with five friends. At the present time, the climb to the top of the volcano is still a difficult task and not frequently undertaken. The Orosí Volcano has the reputation of being "almost unbeatable" because of the tropical vegetation, the constant changes in the weather as you climb, the increasing slope and the abrupt topography.
The lands surrounding the Orosí Volcano have been used for farming and livestock. At the base of the volcano, a lot of activities related to ecotourism are done, mainly visiting the Guanacaste National Park, where it´s possible to observe large sections of dry forest. From the north sector of the Orosí Volcano, it´s possible to see Lake Nicaragua and the plains of the northern part of Costa Rica. The park is located on the east side of the PanAmerican Highway right in front of the Santa Rosa National Park. The access to the Guanacaste National Park is limited and requires previous coordination with the park administration office and the biological stations of the area because it is protected and only used for scientific investigation purposes.