Santa Rosa National Park

Santa Rosa National Park was created in 1971 to commemorate and preserve the historical setting of the Battle of Santa Rosa (March 20, 1856) including the historical mansion and the stonewall corrals. Moreover, it protects the savannah and decidious forest, marshlands, and mangroves, and abundant animal life, including several endagered species. It also has lovely recreational beaches.

Much has changed since then, Santa Rosa National Park now protects remaining fragments of tropical dry forest, housing many different species of flora and fauna, such as coyotes, peccaries, coatimundis, tapirs, jaguarundy, margay, jaguars, ocelots, armadillo, and many varieties of sea and land turtles.

You can expect to find wooden savanna on both sides of the entrance road and all throughout the park. These grasslands are not a natural occurrence, but the result of extensive slash and burn practices. 

There is a new addition to the park, the Murcielago or "bat" section, located in the southeast of the town called Cuajiniquil, on the Santa Elena Peninsula, consisting mostly of spectacular rocky peaks and valleys, which currently are undergoing serious ecological reforestation efforts.