jjd3rd July 26, 2012

Pico Bonito National Park, the Premier Tropical Rain Forest in Honduras

Pico Bonito National Park encompasses a vast expanse, and spreads across the Nombre de Dios Mountain range. The most visited area of this beautiful park is along the Cangrejal River.

Development of the Pico Bonito National Park over the last six years has been mostly in the Cangrejal River area. A Visitors Center is open, and a 400 foot long hanging bridge crosses the river and gives you access to a network of trails. A short trail, “la Roca” does a loop that will take you about 1 hour to hike. The longer “El Mapache” Trail takes you up to the lovely El Bejuco Waterfall, from where you will have breathtaking views of the river, and parts of Pico Bonito National Park, as well as Nombre de Dios National Park. This trail will take at least 3 hours to complete, but could take longer if you linger along the way or need to take some stops along the route to catch your breath.

Wildlife is abundant in the park. Although mammals are really hard to see, a variety of monkeys, including white faced, spider and howler monkeys, all dwell within the park. Ocelots, Jaguars, Pumas, as well as smaller felines also live within the park. Along the rivers and creeks, nutrias can easily be seen if you are patient enough. Other smaller animals, such as guatuzas, anteaters, porcupines, armadillos, squirrels and skunks also inhabit the park.

Keel Billed Toucan

Easier seen and heard are the birds.  A complete list of birds that have been seen within Pico Bonito National Park is available. US ornithologist, David Anderson, has done a lot of research in the area and found many, many species.

A local NGO in the area, Guaruma, has tour guides available from the local community. These young adults, in addition to having personal knowledge of the rainforest (from living there), receive a bilingual education. There are several expert birding guides in the area. If this is your interest, be certain to ask for a guide!