Nicaragua Eco Tour

Eco tours in Nicaragua

Welcome to Eco Tours.  We will help you find the best tours for your Nicaraguan vacation.  On this website, you will find a selection of tours operated by us as well as a selection of tours operated by other well-regarded tour companies around the company.  Below you can see a small example of the different types of tours we help arrange.

Birdwatching

Rum Tours

Monkey Tours

Volcano Tours

Cigar Tours

Coffee Tours

Orchid Tours

Sport fishing

Corn island tours

The selection of tours you see above is just a small selection of what we can offer. If you are looking for another type of tour then you are welcome to email us and we will try to find a good operator that offers that tour or we can help create a custom tour for you. We will always strive to find the most knowledgeable tour operators in Nicaragua regardless of the topic for your tour.

Please note that we do not offer hunting tours. Top many operators will offer illegal hunting and we do not want to support this practice.

Testimonials

About Nicaragua

Fauna & Flora

Nicaragua is a tropical country located in Central America; south of Honduras and El Salvador and north of Costa Rica. It has a long coast along the Pacific Ocean in the west and another one to the Caribbean Sea in the east, and the country is also home to numerous lakes – including the famous Lake Cocibolca (also known as Lake Nicaragua) which is Central America´s largest lake. Some lakes in Nicaragua are old volcano craters that have filled with water, such as Laguna de Apoyo and Laguna de Tiscapa.

The three zones

Nicaragua is broadly divided into three geographical zones:

• The Pacific lowlands
• The North-Central highlands
• The Caribbean lowlands

The Pacific lowlands

The Pacific lowlands are where a majority of the Nicaraguans live, and where you find major cities such as Managua, Granada, León, Masaya, and Rivas. It is also where Central Americas two largest lakes are located: Lake Cocibolca and Lake Managua.

Fertile lowland plains are found around the two big lakes and extend to the northwest along the rift valley of the Gulf of Fonseca. Plant growth is promoted here by the ash raining down from active volcanoes, as this landscape is punctuated by several large volcanoes belonging to the Cordillera Los Maribios mountain range.

The Pacific lowland region of Nicaragua is known as tierra caliente, i.e. “hot land”. The temperatures are high year-round, and the dry season lasts from mid-November to April or May. Typically, the rainy season is also broken up by a period of drought in July-August known as the canicula.

The North-Central highlands

The highlands of North-Central Nicaragua are famous for their production of coffee, cattle and dairy. Large tracts of land are still forested here, and the coffee is shade-grown in special coffee forests that contain a variety of flora and fauna. Parts of the Nicaraguan highlands have cloud forests, which are rich in ferns and orchids.

The highlands have a cooler climate than the lowlands, especially at the higher elevations. The region is referred to as “tierra templada”, and some of the very highest elevations even experience a frosty night once in a blue moon. The rainy season is both longer and wetter than in the Pacific lowlands.

The Caribbean lowlands

You probably know that Amazonas is the largest rainforest in the Americas, but do you know that the second largest is found in Nicaragua? A lot of the Nicaraguan rainforest is located within the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve in the Caribbean lowlands. The reserve is still relatively unexplored, but we do know that thousands of plant species grow here, alongside several hundred birds species. Quetzals, macaws and harpy eagles are just a few examples of birds that are present in large numbers here. Examples of mammals that live in Bosawás are jaguars, cougars, anteaters and tapirs.

The largest river on the Caribbean side of Nicaragua is Río Coco (Wanki), which is actually the largest river to run entirely within Central America. It originates in the mountains of Madriz in north-western Nicaragua and flows east for over 840 km before it reaches the Caribbean Sea. Along its way, it forms the border between Nicaragua and Honduras.

The lowlands of Nicaragua have a climate characterized by high temperatures and high humidity year-round.

jaguar

Fauna

Just a few examples of animals that live in the Nicaraguan wilderness:

• Cougar
• Jaguar
• Jaguarundi
• Panamanian white-faced capuchin monkey
• Geoffroy’s spider monkey
• Brown-throated three-toed sloth
• Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth
• Baird’s tapir
• White-lipped peccary
• Caribbean manatee (along the Caribbean coast)
• Silky anteater
• Giant anteater
• Northern tamandua
• Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine
• Lowland paca
• Aztec mastiff bat
• Wagner’s moustached bat
• Hairy-legged vampire bat
• Turquoise-browed motmot bird
• Keel-billed toucan
• Harpy eagle
• Scarlet macaw
• Great green macaw

Protected areas in Nicaragua

Roughly one-sixth of Nicaragua is designated protected areas, such as national parks, nature reserves and biological reserves. At the time of writing, the country has 78 protected areas which combined cover over 22,400 square kilometres.

Protected areas in Nicaragua. Picture from Nicaragua.se

PROTECTED AREAS IN NICARAGUA

• 

  Refugio de vida salvaje Los Guatuzos

  Alamikamaba Natural Reserve

• Apacunca Genetic Reserve
• Apoyo Lagoon Natural Reserve
• Asososca Lagoon Natural Reserve
• Bismuna Raya Lagoon Natural Reserve
• Bosawás Biosphere Reserve
• Cabo Viejo-Tala-Sulamas Natural Reserve
• Cayos Miskitos Biological Reserve
• Cerro Apante Natural Reserve
• Cerro Arenal Natural Reserve
• Cerro Banacruz Natural Reserve
• Cerro Cola Blanca Natural Reserve
• Cerro Cumaica-Cerro Alegre Natural Reserve
• Cerro Guabule Natural Reserve
• Cerro Kilambé Natural Reserve
• Cerro Mombachito – La Vieja Natural Reserve
• Cerro Musún Natural Reserve
• Cerro Pancasan Natural Reserve
• Cerro Quiabuc-Las Brisas Natural Reserve
• Cerro Silva Natural Reserve
• Cerro Wawashang Natural Reserve
• Chacocente Wildlife Refuge
• Chiltepe Peninsula Natural Reserve
• Chocoyero-El Brujo Natural Reserve
• Cordillera de Yolaina Natural Reserve
• Cordillera Dipilto and Jalapa Natural Reserve
• Cosigüina Volcano Natural Reserve
• El Arenal Natural Reserve
• Estero Padre Ramos Natural Reserve
  

  Somoto Canyon National Monument

• Estero Real Natural Reserve
• Fila Masigüe Natural Reserve
• Hurricane Mitch Victims National Monument
• Indio Maíz Biological Reserve
• Juan Venado Island Natural Reserve
• Kligna Natural Reserve
• Kukalaya Lagoon Natural Reserve
• La Inmaculada Fort Historical Site
• La Máquina Natural Reserve
• Layasika Lagoon Natural Reserve
• Limbaika Natural Reserve
• Llanos de Apacunca Genetic Reserve
• Llanos de Karawala Natural Reserve
• Llanos de Makantaka Natural Reserve
• Los Guatuzos Wildlife Refuge
• Macizos de Peñas Blancas Natural Reserve
• Maderas Volcano Natural Reserve
• Makantaka Natural Reserve
• Masaya Volcano National Park
• Mecatepe Lagoon Natural Reserve
• Mesas de Moropotente Natural Reserve
• Miraflor Natural Reserve
• Mombacho Volcano Natural Reserve
• O Parks, WildLife and Recreation (formerly named Ostional Private WildLife Reserve)
• Nejapa Lagoon Natural Reserve
• Pahara Lagoon Natural Reserve
• Punta Gorda Natural Reserve
• Río Manares Natural Reserve
• Río San Juan Wildlife Refugee
• Salto Río Yasika Natural Reserve
• Selva Negra Cloud Forest Reserve
• Sierra Amerrisique Natural Reserve
• Sierra Quirragua Natural Reserve
• Solentiname National Monument
• Somoto Canyon National Monument
• Tepesomoto-Pataste Natural Reserve
• Tiscapa Lagoon Natural Reserve
• Tisey Estanzuela Natural Reserve
• Tisma Lagoon Natural Reserve
• Volcán Maderas Natural Reserve
• Volcán Pilas El Hoyo Natural Reserve
• Volcán San Cristóbal Natural Reserve
• Volcán San Cristóbal-Casita Natural Reserve
• Volcán Telica Rota Natural Reserve
• Volcán Yali Natural Reserve
• Yolaina Natural Reserve
• Yucul Genetic Reserve
• Yulu Karata Natural Reserve
• Yulu Natural Reserve
• Zapatera Archipelago National Park