Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve, Costa Rica
View across the reserve to the Cabo Blanco Island
The Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve is situated at the extreme southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula.
With its unique combination of climate and geographical location, it ranks among the
most beautiful nature reserves in Costa Rica.
Cabo Blanco also holds a special place in the history of National Parks in Costa Rica.
It was the first protected area of the country, established in 1963.
(See: The History of Cabo Blanco below)
About 2 km from the reserve's southern tip lies the Isla Cabo Blanco. Since the times of the Conquistadores it has been known as the "White Cape" because encrusted guano covers the rocks in dry season. This sea bird sanctuary, off limits for visitors, is inhabited by large numbers of brown pelicans, frigate birds, laughing gulls, common terns and Costa Rica's biggest community of brown boobies.
Nature and Wildlife of Cabo Blanco:
The Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve encompasses 1,172 hectares of mixed forest, which is classified as moist tropical forest. About 150 trees have been identified. Evergreen species predominate, but dry, deciduous forest species are found as well. Among the most common trees are lance wood, bastard cedar, wild plum, gumbo-limbo, trumpet tree, dogwood, frangipani and spiny cedar. One of the spiny cedars in Cabo Blanco towers 50 meters and measures 3 meters in diameter.
The majority of Cabo Blanco is secondary forest, around 50 years old. The remaining patch of primary forest accounts for 15% of the land and is located at the highest and most inaccessible point of the reserve.
Coati, a member of the racoon family
The forest is home to a large variety of animals like white-tailed deer, pacas, armadillos, anteaters, howler, spider and capuchin monkeys, collared peccary, coyotes, porcupines, raccoons and coatis. With a keen eye you can find traces of ocelots, jaguarundis or margay cats. (See also: Animals of the Nicoya Peninsula in the Wildlife Guide)
Anteater in Cabo Blanco
Among the many birds are magpie jay, motmot, long-tailed manakin, cattle egret, crested caracara, elegant trogon, white bellied chachalaca, ringed kingfisher and sulphur-winged parakeet.
An additional 18 hectares (45 acres) of the ocean belongs to the protected area of Cabo Blanco and the abundance of life underwater greatly exceeds that on land. (See: Malpais Underwater)
More about Cabo Blanco:
Hiking trails with map of Cabo Blanco
The History of Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica's First Nature Reserve
In the fifties the government of Costa Rica encouraged settlers to "develop" pieces of land on the isolated southern part
of the Nicoya Peninsula. For clearing a piece of land, settlers were rewarded with ownership.
Within a few years most of the dense woodland of the peninsula had been "cultivated".
In the early sixties the Swede Nicolas Wessberg (also known as Olaf or Olle) came to Costa Rica with his Danish wife Karen Mogensen. They bought a farm near Montezuma and Olaf Wessberg often went to Cabo Blanco to collect seeds for their orchard.
When development of this virgin area began, his concern led him to seek support to preserve the area. He contacted conservationist organizations abroad and was helped by many people who contributed to purchase pieces of land at Cabo Blanco. After years of persistent talks with the Costa Rican government, the status of an Absolute Nature Reserve was given to Cabo Blanco in 1963.
The Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve was the initial step in the development
of Costa Rica's extensive national park system which led to the country's successful ecotourism.
Sadly, Olaf Wessberg was assassinated in 1975, when he helped to create the Corcovado National Park on the Peninsula de Osa.
Yet his wife Karen and many supporters continued his work. Karen became one of Costa Rica's leading environmentalists and when
she died in 1994 she donated most of her money for the creation of other nature reserves:
the Karen Mogensen Nature Reserve which is located near Jicaral in the mountains of the
Nicoya Peninsula, and the Nicolas Wessberg Absolute Reserve situated north of Montezuma.
See also:
• Pictures of Olaf Wessberg and Karen Mogenson
• The Olaf Wessberg Story (print optimized pdf, great travel reading)