Qualla: Cahuita National Park

Cahuita National Park: Introduction

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Haakon S. Krohn, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1991, an earthquake lifted a large section of Cahuita's coral reef three meters out of the water. Corals that had grown for centuries were suddenly exposed to sun and air, and they died within days. It was a brutal reminder that the reef which prompted the park's creation in 1970 exists on geological terms, not human ones. Cahuita National Park protects approximately 23,500 hectares of Costa Rica's Caribbean coast (around 1,100 terrestrial and 22,400 marine) -- a place where coastal rainforest runs straight to the waterline, where eyelash vipers coil on branches above the trail, and where the surviving reef still shelters at least 35 species of coral, 123 species of fish, and 140 species of mollusks.

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Image: Haakon S. Krohn | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cahuita National Park: The Reef That Built a Park

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bernal Saborio from Costa Rica, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cahuita was originally declared a national monument in 1970, created specifically to protect its offshore coral reef -- one of the most developed on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast. In 1978, the monument was elevated to national park status. The 600-acre reef had long attracted the ...

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Image: Bernal Saborio from Costa Rica | CC BY-SA 2.0

Cahuita National Park: Forest to the Waterline

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting), CC BY-SA 4.0. A 2.1-kilometer trail with boardwalks through the wettest sections runs along the coast, threading between forest and beach. The canopy overhead is coastal rainforest -- dense, humid, and thoroughly inhabited. White-faced capuchins and howler monkeys crash through the branches. R...

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Image: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting) | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cahuita National Park: A Point Named by Fishermen

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pavel Kirillov, CC BY-SA 2.0. The first recorded settler at Cahuita Point was a fisherman named William Smith, who brought his family here in 1828, drawn by the reef's abundance of green and hawksbill turtles. Other Afro-Caribbean families followed, building a fishing community along the coast that would pers...

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Image: Pavel Kirillov | CC BY-SA 2.0

Cahuita National Park: Sand in Two Colors

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MongeNajera, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cahuita's beaches are divided by geology. Playa Blanca, the white sand beach inside the park, stretches along the trail between the Kelly Creek entrance and Puerto Vargas, backed by coconut palms and lapped by the turquoise water that makes every photograph look retouched. Playa ...

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Image: MongeNajera | CC BY-SA 3.0