Cloud Forest

By Rob Packer

One of Costa Rica’s most famous attractions is the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, a four-hour bumpy bus ride away from San José on the Continental Divide that divides Atlantic and Pacific drainage basins throughout the Americas. The reserve is mainly made up of primary cloud forest: primary because it’s said that the trees have never been cut down and cloud forest because it’s covered with clouds for most of the day. Cloud forests contain an incredible amount of water and are covered in moss everywhere you look. We arrived early before the daily rain in Costa Rica could drench us, which also meant that we left before a lot of the clouds had moved in though.

The cloud forest's clouds start to form

The view from the top over the Continental Divide

Mossy trees

The colour of this wood is amazingly red

One of the region's many canopy bridges (but the only one in Monteverde)

Butterfly in a tree

A butterfly with transparent wings

Spider webs

A butterfly with transparent wings

Spider webs

The colour of this wood is amazingly red

Mossy trees

The view from the top over the Continental Divide

The cloud forest’s clouds start to form

One of the region’s many canopy bridges (but the only one in Monteverde)

Butterfly in a tree

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