La Tigra National Park Cloud Forest

light flower on white background
light flower on white background (View on flickr)

Randy riding down from Tigra National Park
Randy riding down from Tigra National Park (View on flickr)

In Central America there is still some remaining cloud forest. In Honduras we had a chance to visit Parque Nacional ¨La Tigra¨ for a couple of days. We took a 3 hour hike up into the high mountains. We walked along the flower lined path up further into the heavens and into the misty rain forest. The thickness of the clouds increased with each meter we climbed. The visibility dropped down to nearly nothing and the silence of the jungle like mountain forest became louder. Up at 1800 meters there are pine trees, flowering hard wood trees, mosses engulf everything. The parasitic bromeliads grow in the branches and grow with vengeance. We climbed to the 100 meter waterfall before calling it quits. We could have climbed another 6 hours but that day was suppose to be a rest day. It was wonderful having the whole rainforest to ourselves, we did not see another person hiking the old mining trails of ¨La Tigra National Park¨.

What was amazing is that we where only 15 Kilometers from Tugucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. It was just over the ridge another couple of thousand meters higher and then down a couple thousand more.

waterfall
waterfall (View on flickr)

We did see some some birds, no pumas as the name of the park implies but we did see a healthy ecosystem that perhaps is one of the few left in the world. A hundred years ago this part of the park was all old-growth forest, but it was all cut down for a U.S. gold mining operation. And now one hundred years later nature has reclaimed its powerful determination. Nature is amazing and we got to experience it at its best.

We're now just a few days away from the Nicaraguan border, if all goes well.