Mombacho Volcano Natural Reserve
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Welcome to the Mombacho Volcano Natural Reserve, a place unique for its
rich biodiversity offering outstanding views of some of the country's most
beautiful landscapes and certainly providing a good workout.THE VOLCANO ITSELF
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The
Mombacho Volcano is considered of extreme importance not only to the country's
ecology, but to the country's geography as well.This 1,345 meter high stratovolcano is located 50 km SE of Managua and just about 10 km from Granada. Its last reported activity was back in 1570 when part of its walls collapsed and destroyed a nearby village of its same name. However, volcanologist are not sure the collapse was caused by an eruption. But they are pretty sure this was not that first time it had happen.
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Volcanologist
believe that thousands of years ago, this volcano's NE wall collapsed to
for a peninsula and an archilepago now known as Las Isletas de Granada,
on Lake Cocibolca. The volcano possesses two crater, currently dormant,
but it does have many fumarolic fields and hot springs found in a large
area.THE NATURAL RESERVE
The adventure begins as early as visitors start to climb the 1,345 meter high volcano, however, they can only reach the 1,150 meter mark where there's the Biological Station.
On the way up to this place, visitors can enjoy the freshness of the dense cloud forest and the beautiful orchids of various colors, which are found all over the side of the path. During this journey, amazing views of some landscapes and nearby town are available, but the best viewpoints will come later on. At the 700 meter mark is where one can practice "canopy".
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At the Biological Station, visitors can learn more about the volcano, its
history and importance of its Natural Reserve as they check out the graphics
and videos showing the different types of orchids and animals found there.)
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Think that's it? Just reach the Biological Station, rest for awhile then
prepare to go down? No my friends, there's a lot more, in fact, that's only
half way the adventure. Now, visitors take an adventurous journey deep into
and around the volcano as they enjoy the surroundings and have breathtaking
views of the nearby natural beauties.As mentioned before, a trip to this Natural Reserve is not only adventurous, it's also educational. As the tourguide advances deep into the Reserve, he explains about the abundant flora, fauna and history of the volcano as he makes stops at some graphics on the way.
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One of those stops takes visitors to the picture on the left. That's a passage
that leads to a viewpoint where you can appreciate the crater, which is
hard to find because it's covered with vegetation, but you can just enjoy
the view of the surroundings and feel the freshness.This Natural Reserve, as stated before, is unique in the world because is the exclusive home of sereval different species of hundreds of animals and plants. One of those plants is the beautiful orchid, which is found all over the place and in numerous colors. Also, there are some types of trees that grow other trees, which are not very common.
Furthermore, there is an area called "Bosque Enano", where the trees are very short. That's due to the high winds that hit them forcing them to stay short. The fauna is very abundant as well. Various types of animals are found here including the howler monkey, different species of local and migratory birds.
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Once at the viewpoint, amazing panoramas of some of Nicaragua's most beautiful
landscapes are available. From there, visitors have breathtaking angles
of the more than 360 Isletas de Granada (left) as well as the city. Also,
they can contemplate the astonishing Lake Apoyo and the surrounding mountains
and towns.These pictures I have don't describe at all the excitement of visiting this natural reserve, but something is something.
[[ NOTE: THIS PAGE IS NOT YET FINISHED. SOON, I'LL MOVE IT TO THE PROTECTED AREAS SECTION, THEN IT'LL BE COMPLETE BECAUSE I'LL ADD MORE IMAGES AND HAVE MORE INFO.]]
Thank you for visiting my Volcanoes Section, Part I of Nicaragua's Natural Beauty. To continue with Part II, surf to my Beaches Section where information and pictures of beaches, lakes, rivers and islands is available.
