What Is a Tropical Cloud Forest?

A cloud forest is like a rainforest but without the heavy rainfall and with much cooler temperatures. It maintains 100% humidity throughout the year and has a persistent cloud cover, evoking a constant sense of magic.

Monteverde Reserve

How it happens?

Just picture Costa Rica’s location: positioned between two seas, the Pacific and the Caribbean. It’s a narrow strip of land that rises to heights of up to 12,000 feet. The wet tropical trade winds blow from east to west, originating from the Caribbean Sea. As these humid winds ascend the mountains, the cooling air increases in altitude, and the moisture condenses to form dew, creating the near-constant fog and clouds. One distinguishing feature of a cloud forest, compared to a rainforest, is that most of its moisture comes from clouds (horizontal mists), with a smaller amount coming from vertical rainfall. Plants have evolved to thrive in this continuous mist, and hundreds of animal species have evolved to depend on these plants.

Epiphytes

Cloud forests, located in the mountains, are much cooler than the typical hot tropical rainforests with which most people are familiar.

Upon entering a cloud forest, the most prevalent plants you’ll notice are epiphytes, specifically bromeliads. These aerial plants rely on nutrients delivered by the clouds and breeze. They form water reservoirs on tree branches, where many species spend their entire lives. Others utilize these reservoirs to safeguard their eggs and juveniles. Mountain winds, combined with the weight of water in the epiphytes, frequently cause branches to break and fall. These falling branches create gaps that allow sunlight in, fostering the growth of light-tolerant plants and creating a dynamic mosaic of ecological succession.

Soils

In the absence of the heavy rainfall characteristic of rainforests, leaves that fall to the ground in cloud forests do not decompose quickly enough to return nutrients to the trees. In cloud forests, rain penetrates the topsoil more readily; therefore, trees generally grow smaller than in rainforests. This results in a shorter cloud forest canopy, contributing to the forest’s dense and tangled appearance. While animals are plentiful in the cloud forest, the dense understory vegetation makes it less likely for visitors to spot them. However, birds are both more numerous and more visible in the secondary underbrush and forest areas.

Moss and Ferns

Another thing that you will notice as you enter a cloud forest are the moss and the gigantic ferns… and fern trees. They are the water collectors by excellence. In the cloud forest clouds, fog, have to be turned into liquid water for the plants to survive and that is when moss makes a star apparition damping itself and keeping the liquid safe to go in the soil or directly to the trunks and stems of plants and trees.

On the other hand, the thick roots of ferns are great to keep the soil and the water in it. And that is why we see so many of them.

Birds

Birds hold a unique role in the ecosystem of cloud forests. They function as both harvesters and sowers, and they help regulate insect populations. Moreover, birds contribute significantly to the auditory ambiance of the cloud forest. Their songs, chirps, and calls resonate through the dense foliage, weaving a soundscape that enhances the forest’s enchanting atmosphere.

Rather than solely considering the contributions birds make to cloud forests, it’s essential to recognize the invaluable support these habitats offer birds in return. Cloud forests harbor an impressive diversity of both endemic and near-endemic species, acting as sanctuaries for wintering birds.

Furthermore, these forests serve as crucial foraging zones for migratory birds that winter further south. As these birds journey to their northern breeding grounds, they rely on cloud forests as essential pit stops along the way.

Where can you find cloud forests in Costa Rica?

Some of them are very well known and popular, like Monteverde of course, where there are all sorts of choices to see it and enjoy it.

But then there are some, lesser known like the cloud forests in the Southern Mountains, in the area of Savegre and San Gerardo de Rivas, as well as up in La Amistad almost reaching the Panama border.

However, if you really want to see the cloud forests ask our travel consultants… It truly depends on what you want to see and experience… As you tell them, they will recommend what’s the best Tropical Cloud Forest for you.