La Cangreja National Park

At the end of the 19th century, the area around the town of Puriscal, in west-central Costa Rica, was described as a “Garden of Eden” for its fertile grounds. La Cangreja National Park is one of the last remaining pieces of virgin forest in this region.

It is a small national park spanning 2´570 hectares (6´350 acres) that protects the water supply for nearby communities. Here you can see a great variety of birds, including endangered Scarlet Macaws, and other animal and plant life. The park gets its name La Cangreja, meaning "the crab", from the shape of its central mountain which resembles a crab with the hills beside it as its pinchers.