Our last day in the Monteverde area gave us one more glorious hike through the rainforest at the Bosque Eterno de los Niños, or the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. This rainforest covers 57,000 acres and is protected and preserved by the non-profit Monteverde Conservation League.
There are four locations to experience this preserve. We arrived at the Bajo del Tigre area ready to experience this incredible forest. We drove down from the main road along a winding dirt path, parked the car, and walked the path to the visitor center. Entrance into the forest costs $17/adult, $11/child for a self guided walk along the trails.
The funding for this preservation area came after a biologist from the U.S. gave a presentation to a class of students in Sweden. The children raised thousands of dollars. And the word about their project spread until children from 44 different countries around the world were raising and contributing money to protect this area. Today only a fraction of the forest is open to the public, while most of it is preserved for research and conservation.
This rainforest is one of the most biodiverse areas on earth. It is home to 450 different species of birds, including some that are endangered. It is also home to multiple species of monkey, sloth, and wild cat. And if that weren’t enough, this forest has the largest number of orchid species in the world.
There are many trails of differing lengths you can take. We opted to take a the loop along the outside that would include a few of the trails. Beginning at the visitor center we followed the ‘Bat Trail’ then connected with the ‘Bellbird Trail’ before turning off towards the lookout. We had wanted to do the ‘Jaguar Trail’ but it was closed due to being in the rainy season.
The views of the forest around us were beautiful. The lookout didn’t really provide a view because the trees had grown up so much around it which was disappointing. After we finished at the lookout, we continued back along the ‘Monkey Trail’. At one point we could hear the monkeys above us, but when we looked we couldn’t see them through the lush green above us.
The last part of the trail was the ‘Children’s Trail’ leading back to the visitor center. Along this part there were interactive information boards teaching about the forest and the animals that lived there. And next to the visitor center was a brightly colored club house full of games, books, art projects, and teaching tools for kids.
We felt quite honored to spend a few hours in this forest that so many children worked to preserve. We underestimate sometimes what a difference can be made by those so young. But that so many children, from so many countries, were able to collect the funds to create such a massive preserve is truly inspiring.
For more hikes in Monteverde, check out these:
Hanging Bridges in the Cloud Forest
Cloud Forest Biological Reserve
Thanks for coming along on this hike through the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. May you always want to preserve and protect the natural world around you.
24 responses to “In the Children’s Eternal Rainforest {Costa Rica}”
What an amazing story of conservation! I love this!
Isn’t it incredible! To think that it was kids that made possible the largest land trust in the world just blows my mind 🙂
What a splendid name for a rainforest Meg. I’m always attracted to rainforest trails and enjoyed following along with this one.
Thank you Marion 🙂 rainforest trails could be my new favorite and especially this one which is less visited than others in the area. I hope you have a great day!
Such a wonderful hotspot for biodiversity, ecotourism, bird watching, and hiking trails. I love how this gigantic reserve gets its name from the unprecedented support from children all over the world. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful day 🙂 Aiva xx
Thanks Aiva 🙂 It is amazing the power and influence of kids in creating and preserving this rainforest. Proof that great things come from young people.
We did a night walk in this reserve so I was very interested to see what it looked like by day 🙂 It wasn’t a highlight of our trip as our guide was more interested in trees than wildlife and despite all the info he gave us, in the dark all the trees looked very similar! But we did see a couple of tarantulas 😀
I’m really glad we didn’t see any tarantulas…my screaming would have disturbed the peace of the rainforest probably. How cool to take a night hike here and get to see all the animals. 🙂
Well it would have been perhaps, with a better guide, but we found it a bit of a disappointment!
Beautiful. Love these places. Funnily enough, the “Monkey Trail” is also the nickname of part of the road from Liberia to Potrero, it’s an amazing drive that scared the wits out of me first time. How great is the conservation aspect of this forest….that’s a heartwarming story.
Oh Im going to have to add that incredible, little scary, drive to my list for the next time we visit the area. It really is heartwarming the impact kids can make in creating this preservation project 🙂
Gather your nerves first!
It’s incredible how lush the rainforest is and just how much life it supports. Glad to hear sections of it within Costa Rica have been preserved. Your pictures are beautiful.
The whole idea behind the forest being protected and preserved was really amazing. I wish we could have seen more of the animals that live there, but at least we knew they had a safe place to be 🙂
It’s such a beautiful place 😍 I love the rainforest, such a peaceful place and so full of wildlife and biodiversity
It is amazing to think about just how many different animals and plants are there. I hope you have a great weekend 🙂
What a great story of children changing the world in a tangible way. Costa Rica really is a shining example of what a country can do when it wants to make conservation a priority.
I agree, other countries could do well by taking a page from Costa Rica. That it was kids who created this massive preservation area really is incredible and inspiring. 🙂
It’s so wonderful that children from around the world helped raise the funds to protect this special area. I wish those in charge would read your post and realize that we need to protect and preserve our planet for future generations. Beautiful post Meg!
Thank you! I think its amazing the influence and inspiration that comes from these young kids who seem to have a much more clear vision than a lot of adults, especially thise in charge.
Looks beautiful Meg and your daughter seemed to enjoy it too 😊
She was pretty excited to go somewhere created by kids. It was a really beautiful part of the rainforest and less busy than other parts.
Meg! It’s been too long. Sadly I had to put the blogosphere to one side for a while in order to deal with “life” in its varied forms. Not sure how I’m going to properly catch up with everyone, I may need a week off work! No wonder this forest is so protected, “one of the most biodiverse places on earth”, wowza. It’s amazing how so many people from varied countries have contributed to keeping it safe, healthy and in tiptop condition, bravo. The education centre looks to be a lovingly crated space, Tess must have loved it.
Leighton! Welcome back! 🙂 I hope all that life stuff in all its forms is going well. Taking a week off work to catch up on things actually sounds really nice.
This rainforest was incredible-especially when you think of all the kids around the world who worked so hard to protect it. The education center was great and she probably would have kept us there all day if it was up to her 🙂