Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Plants
Nicaragua has four major environment zones, each with very different ecosystems and
plants. Dry tropical forests are the rarest, as their location - below 500m, often right by
the beach - and seven-month dry season make them perfect places to plant crops and
build resort hotels. These forests are home to more than 30 species of hardwood, includ-
ing precious mahogany.
Some dramatic species found in the ecosystem include strangler figs, which start out as
slender vines and end up entombing the host tree in a dramatically buttressed encasement;
the wide-spreading guanacaste of the endless savannahs; and the pithaya, a branch-dwell-
ing cactus with delicious edible fruit. Most plants lose their leaves by January, except in
the largest remaining mangrove stand in Central America, partially preserved as Reserva
Natural Isla Juan Venado and Reserva Natural Estero Padre Ramos, and crossing borders
into El Salvador and Honduras.
Subtropical dry forests have sandy acidic soils and four species of pine tree (this is their
southernmost natural border); they can be seen in the Región Autónoma Atlántico Norte
(Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region; RAAN) and the Segovias.
Humid tropical forests are home to the multistory green canopies most people think of
as classic rainforest. Conditions here are perfect for all plant life; almost no nutrients are
stored in the soil, but there is a vast web just beneath the fallen leaves of enormous ceibas,
formed of tiny roots, fungus and other assorted symbiotes that devour every stray nutrient
as soon as it hits the ground.
Cloud forests are found above 1200m and are easily the most impressive (and rarest)
biome, with epiphytes, bromeliads (a variety of high-humidity plant that grows in the
branches of other trees), mosses, lichens and lots of orchids, which you can see at Reserva
Natural Cerro Datanlí-El Diablo, among many other places.
The central subtropical forests of Boaco and Chontales have been largely devoured by
cattle ranches, and while there are a few reserves, including Reserva Natural Sierra Amer-
isque, access to these areas is limited. Just to the east are the Caribbean lowlands, where
there are swamps and thick, dense foliage that you can see on the riverboat ride from El
Rama.
Wildlife-watchers migrating to Central America should read L Irby Davis'
Field Guide to the
Birds of Mexico & Central America
or Adrian Forsyth's
Tropical Nature: Life & Death in the Rainforests of
Central & South America.
