写真

Santa Rosa was founded in 1972 as the country's first national park. The 49,515-hectare park, which covers much of the Santa Elena peninsula, is part of a mosaic of ecologically interdependent parks and reserves--the 110,000-hectare Guanacaste Conservation Area (GCA)--that incorporates Santa Rosa National Park, Rinc�n de la Vieja National Park, Bola�os Island Wildlife Refuge, the Junquillal Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and the Horizontes Experimental Station, abutting Santa Rosa to the south. See the Information section, below, for contact information.

Parque Nacional Santa Rosa is most famous for Hacienda Santa Rosa--better known as La Casona--the nation's most cherished historic monument. It was here in 1856 that the mercenary army of American adventurer William Walker was defeated by a ragamuffin army of Costa Rican volunteers. The old hacienda-turned-museum alone is well worth the visit. Santa Rosa National Park has other treasures, too. (www.centralamerica.com)