Forest in the Clouds

The Cheese Factory

Back in the early 50's a group of Quakers left Alabama to establish a community in the cloud covered mountains of Costa Rica. They called it Monteverde, which means Green Mountain in Spanish. They wanted to make their farming community self-sustaining, but they also needed a commodity that they could bring to market. They decided on a cheese making operation which has been operating since 1954, and it now produces more than 9,000 pounds of cheese a day, plus other dairy products, such as sour cream, cream cheese and ice cream.

The cheese factory makes about 17 differnet kinds of cheese such as Gouda, cheddar, Edamer, Parmesano, Mozzarello, etc. One of the famous cheeses is the smoked Provelone, which is smoked with coffee wood. There are more types of cheeses developed that are unique to Monteverde. Today this cheese is sold all over Costa Rica and is exported to other countries in Central America.

The Cloud Forest Preserve

These settlers, set aside 1,335 acres of forest above their community. They thought it wise to protect this valuable watershed which was the water source for their hydroelectric plant. After the discovery of the Golden Toad, the fantastic variety of flora and fauna in that area really caught the attention of scientists. So in the 1960's the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve was established and since then has been extended to 26,000 acres. It has become one of the most visited attractions in Costa Rica, with over 50,000 tourists coming to see the thousands of species of birds, animals and plants which live in this preserve.

The Topography

The elevation varies from 800 meters at the Penƒgas Blancas river to 1842 meters at the top of Cerro Tres Amigos. There area supports four different bioclimatic zones. Diversity abounds in the preserve, there are over 100 species of mammals, more than 400 species of birds, 120 species of amphibians and reptiles and 3,000 species of plants, in addition to tens of thousands of insect species.

With the addition of the Santos Elena Forest Reserve and the Children's Eternal Rain Forest the area more than doubled. The Children's Eternal Rain Forest has a steep topography characterized by peaks and mountain ridges, valleys and canyons, and rivers. And at Santa Elena you can visit attractions such as a beautiful butterfly garden, a sepentarium and art galleries.

This area has such a lot of things to do and see, it is a great destination for an ecotourist. The diversity of the area makes for a great vacation spot.