Reserva Finca Curré

The southern canton of Talamanca on the Caribbean coast is home to an extraordinary amount of animal and plant species. The origin of this great diversity is due to different vegetation zones, which host different biotypes of low and high lands in a relatively narrow space. Added to this, are the almost untouched primary forests with trees that are more than one hundred years old.

Finca Curré: part of a biological corridor

Over the years, Tropica Verde has acquired 100ha of primary forest near Punta Uva in the coastal region of Baja Talamanca, thereby protecting this land from imminent deforestation. A part of this forest was later integrated into the neighboring indigenous Keköldi reserve. Since 1992, Finca Curré has preserved an important forest connection – a so-called “biological corridor” – between the Keköldi indigenous reserve and the protected area of Gandoca-Manzanillo. This region borders in the southeast an intact trans-national corridor that runs along Panama’s coast.

Actual threats of the coastal forest

These corridors are particularly important for larger mammals, such as tapirs and jaguars. Jaguars for example hunt in areas of 50 – 100 square km and need connected forest areas. These surfaces are also extremely important to preserve the genetic stability of the animal population. Poaching, logging and land occupation in this region remain an issue. A particular threat currently is the speculation of private forest areas. Since 2016, these have been increasingly parceled out in smaller lots for hotel, commercial, and retirement home use. The required infrastructure of roads and streets enormously increases the pressure on the remaining primary forest.