Although Barra Honda National Park covers 2,295 hectares, its reason for being is not what lies on the surface, but the geological treasure hidden below. This is the only park in the country designed to protect caves.

To date, 19 separate caverns have been discovered in the limestone ridge that makes up the Barra Honda formation. The entrances to these caves are all vertical. Therefore, ropes and climbing equipment are necessary for those who are interested in exploring this subterranean world. Cave depths vary from 21 to 240 meters. Compared to many other caves with horizontal entrances, the geological features of Barra Honda are in excellent condition owing to the difficulty of access.

The natural vegetation that once covered much of the park is sadly not in a perfect condition, due to deforestation and cattle ranching, but secondary forest is slowly conquering the park.

As recently as 1967, it was still a matter of debate whether or not Barra Honda Mountain was a volcano. Credibility was given to this belief by the foul odor and strange sounds that emanated from one of the “craters” on top of the ridge. As explorations of the caverns continued it became obvious that volcanism had nothing to do with the formation of Barra Honda and the opening that produced the smells and noise turned out to harbor a tremendous quantity of bats. The odor came from the accumulated guano and the “roar” was the sound made by the fluttering wings of thousands of these creatures of the night!

<< Back to Activities