Tapantí National Park (TNP), with 4.715 hectares and the greatest amount of rain and cloud cover in the country, is located in the eastern Central Valley in Costa Rica, 20 kms southeast of the city of Cartago. Because of its geographic position in the northern (or Caribbean) slopes of the Cordillera de Talamanca, where it lies between 1,200 and 2,450 meters of elevation, and the clouds from the sea that enter along the canyon of the Reventazón and Grande de Orosi rivers, this park records annually up to 8,000 mm of rain in certain areas, distributed throughout the year and with a relatively dryer season during the months of March and April.

About of 250 orchids species have been recorded at Tapantí. Among the rich orchid flora of the park, it is possible to observe many species of the subtribe Pleurothallidinae, as well as  Epidendrum ,  Maxillaria ,  Oncidium ,  Elleanthus , and  Sobralia . Charles Lankester owned lands in Cachí, Cóncavas, Navarro and Aguacaliente, neighboring areas of Tapantí where he historically used to look for orchids. Most of the species discovered by Lankester are protected in Tapantí. The park is also home of several endemic species such as the  Dracula inexperata and eight  Lepanthes  species that were described recently by Lankester Garden researchers.

The Park is 27 km from Cartago along the road via Paraíso-Orosi-Purisil-Tapantí-National Park Headquarters and about 35 minutes from Lankester Botanical Garden.

Click here to see an orchid listing of Tapantí, published in EPIDENDRA

Pictures by D Jimenez and P Aratoun