Page 29 - NORTHERN PLAINS TOURIST GUIDE

Protected Areas
Conservation Area
Arenal Huetar North (ACAHN)
This conservation area is located in the northern part of the country and extends from the Las Haciendas River in Upala to the Sarapiquí River, in the Virgen de Sarapiqui (an inalienable zone of the National Wildlife Refuge Border Corridor). It is bordered to the north by Nicaragua, to the west by the Guanacaste Mountain Range and to the east by the Sarapiquí and Toro Amarillo Rivers. To the south it borders the canton of Naranjo, which makes it the protagonist of the Northern Plains.
The ACAHN protects and conserves outstanding resources such as rainforest and montane rainforest, ecosystems for biological research, wetlands that serve as shelter, feeding and breeding grounds for wild and traveling species, and water resources of great importance for the region and for the country due to the production of hydroelectric energy.
It covers an area is 6734 Km2 (13.56% of the national territory). Five cantons are included: Guatuso, Los Chiles, San Carlos, Upala and Alfaro Ruiz in the province of Alajuela, plus Peñas Blancas in San Ramón and the district of La Virgen and Cureña in the canton of Sarapiquí. The Heredia province, as indicated above, is addressed in a different guide, in compliance with tourist distributions although this region in this province belongs to the Northern Plains.
In general, it has a humid climate, very hot, with a reduced water deficit. The average temperature ranges from 22° C (December to
Foto: Andrea Solano
Agalychnis callidryas
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