The National System of Conservation Areas has announced that several National Parks in the Guanacaste Area and Southern Zone will remain closed after damages caused by Tropical Storm Nate.

Last Wednesday the Ministry of Environment and the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) took the decision of closing National Parks in different areas of Costa Rica as a preventive measure, the parks were to remain closed until Saturday; however, because of the great damage caused in certain areas of Guanacaste by the storm some of these parks will face a temporary closure.

The parks that opened doors again yesterday as scheduled are: Barra del Colorado, Tortuguero, Cahuita, Gandoca Manzanillo in the Caribbean and Carara National Park and Parque Nacional Marino Ballena in Puntarenas.

While the following will remain closed: Rincón de la Vieja National Park, Santa Rosa National Park, Barra Honda and Bahía Junquillal Wildlife Refuge in Guanacaste; Isla del Caño Wildlife Refuge and Corcovado National Park in the Osa Península, “we will continue to work on evaluating the conditions of each of the national parks with the objective of reopening to the public as soon as possible, however, we will not reopen until we are entirely sure that there is no danger for the visitors”, explained Mario Coto , director of SINAC

The damages are present in the access roads, trails, saturated floors, infrastructure, fallen trees , flooded areas, and in some areas lack of water and electricity services.