Information of Pozo Azul at Magsasay

The farm has 4 miles of border with the Braulio Carrillo National Park through the Peje River and borders to La Selva Biological Station owned by the OTS ( Organization of tropical Studies). Pozo Azul is the largest green seal reforestation project in the area, additionally it owns primary forest reserves under conservation regime. Its strategic location makes it ideal for birding and walks in our many paths and trails.

Magsasay was during the 50's a prison camp from where inmates built 45 miles of roads through the jungle, some of these roads are now part of the network of trails and paths inside the Park. The name Magsasay was given to the camp by the chaplain of the inmates in honor of Ramón Magsaysay, the then Philippines President who freed his country of communist guerrilla and was running for a second term when his plane crash and died on that Sunday of 1957.

Magsasay during 80's was a black pepper farm owned and ran by the Quintana family. Black pepper was first planted commercially in Costa Rica by Dr. Robert Hunter in his neighboring farm La Tirimbina ( today Tirimbina Biological Reserve ). "As an effort to introduced nontraditional crop diversification into the tropical rain forest region"( Allen M. Young, Sarapiquí Chronicle). Today pepper continues to be produced, now in an organic way, at Hacienda Pozo Azul.

The rest of the farm is in a process of recuperating forests from its grass lands. Already 1/3 has been done with native varieties, (see the page on the reception building). In the mean time the remaining pasture land is being use in a cattle breeding operation using a hybrid of Brahma and Simmental breeds.

Our next project is to plant a 100 acre plot with commercial native varieties which will favor some species of birds like the Great Green Macau( Ara ambigua ) which is an endanger species and native to the surrounding area.

The reforestation project is being designed and supervised by FUNDECOR (www.fundecor.or.cr/sello_verde) and has been qualified for the Green Seal under the umbrella certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) under SGS Qualifor certification.

Activities and Tours to do in Magsasay