Central America
Talamanca Range
Monday, December 17, 2007
We are fortunate here in Bocas del Toro Panama to have
a world heritage site. The Talamanca Range – La Amistad
Reserves were initially designated as a UNESCO world
heritage site in 1983 and then extended again in 1990.
The park lies on the edge of the borders between Panama and Costa Rica. The governments of Costa Rica and Panama declared their intent to form the park in 1979. Over a period of not quite 12 years the different parts of the park were established and inscribed in the World Heritage List.
The Talamanca Range is the highest and wildest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America. This arc type mountain building was formed by a combination of marine deposition and marine volcanonism and the uplifting of the entire area to some 4000 meters above sea level. The area has gradually eroded due to heavy rainfall.
Tropical rain forests have covered most of the area since at least 25,000 years ago. There are at least eight different life zones in the park including lowland tropical rain forest, cloud forest, sub-alpine paramo forests, pure oak stands, lakes of glacial origin and high altitude bogs. Nowhere else in Central America can you find sub-alpine paramo forests, pure oak stands, lakes of glacial origin and high altitude bogs. The area also contains all five altitudinal zones found in the tropics. Species diversity is amazing. There may not be any other reserve of equivalent size in the world with so many different species, due to the convergence of the floras of North and South America and varied climatic and soil based factors. The park includes some 9,000 flowering plant, more than 4,000 non-vascular plant, 80% of the country's moss, about 900 lichen and approximately 1,000 fern species.
The park lies on the edge of the borders between Panama and Costa Rica. The governments of Costa Rica and Panama declared their intent to form the park in 1979. Over a period of not quite 12 years the different parts of the park were established and inscribed in the World Heritage List.
The Talamanca Range is the highest and wildest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America. This arc type mountain building was formed by a combination of marine deposition and marine volcanonism and the uplifting of the entire area to some 4000 meters above sea level. The area has gradually eroded due to heavy rainfall.
Tropical rain forests have covered most of the area since at least 25,000 years ago. There are at least eight different life zones in the park including lowland tropical rain forest, cloud forest, sub-alpine paramo forests, pure oak stands, lakes of glacial origin and high altitude bogs. Nowhere else in Central America can you find sub-alpine paramo forests, pure oak stands, lakes of glacial origin and high altitude bogs. The area also contains all five altitudinal zones found in the tropics. Species diversity is amazing. There may not be any other reserve of equivalent size in the world with so many different species, due to the convergence of the floras of North and South America and varied climatic and soil based factors. The park includes some 9,000 flowering plant, more than 4,000 non-vascular plant, 80% of the country's moss, about 900 lichen and approximately 1,000 fern species.
