Río Celeste, Tenorio Volcano National Park
Parque Nacional Volcán Tenorio
Interesting facts
- The colour contains no dye at all: a 2013 University of Costa Rica study showed it comes from sunlight scattered by suspended aluminosilicate particles, not dissolved copper or other metals.
- The Quebrada Agria, literally the sour creek, has a pH of about 3.1, while the Buenavista is close to neutral at about 6.8; mixed, the river settles near 5.
- At the confluence the drop in acidity makes mineral particles clump, growing from about 184 to about 566 nanometres across, the size that scatters blue light so strongly.
- A tree frog discovered in the reserve next to the park was named Tlalocohyla celeste in 2022, partly in tribute to the river's turquoise water.
- The new frog is only about 2 centimetres long and is known from a single wetland of roughly 8 hectares, so scientists fear it may be critically endangered.
- The biologist who found the frog spent about six months tracking down a shrill call in the marsh before he saw the animal that made it.
Why it is worth it
Few rivers anywhere look as improbable as the Río Celeste. Inside Tenorio Volcano National Park, on the slopes of the Guanacaste volcanic range in northern Costa Rica, an ordinary forest stream turns a milky sky-blue within a few metres, as if someone had poured paint into it. The place where it happens is called El Teñidero, roughly "the dyeing place": two clear streams, the Buenavista and the acidic Quebrada Agria, meet, and the change in chemistry makes fine aluminosilicate particles cluster in the water. Those particles scatter sunlight, and the river glows turquoise all the way downstream. Standing at the confluence you can see the seam where the two colours run side by side before merging.
The park was created in 1995 and covers a little over 18,400 hectares around Tenorio volcano, which rises to about 1,916 metres and carries several craters, among them Montezuma and Olla de Carne. The upper slopes are cloud forest, lower down it gives way to rainforest, and the park counts well over a hundred species each of mammals and reptiles and dozens of amphibians, among them the tapir and the rarely seen puma. It is managed by the Arenal-Tempisque Conservation Area of Costa Rica's national park service.
The main trail, about 6 km there and back, strings the highlights together like beads. First comes the waterfall, a drop of roughly 20 metres into a pool so intensely blue it looks artificial even in photographs taken on grey days. Further on are a lookout, the Laguna Azul pool, the Borbollones, where gas bubbles up through the riverbed, and finally the Teñidero itself. Nearby, at Los Hervideros, hot springs well up along the river, and the whole landscape is a reminder that the volcano above is still a living system.
Getting there
The park entrance is at the El Pilón ranger station near Bijagua, about 9 km from the village; the trail starts there. The nearest larger town is Cañas, roughly 28 km away. The closest airport is La Fortuna Arenal Airport (FON), about 51 km away, served by domestic flights; most international visitors fly into Liberia or San José and drive.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Tenorio Volcano National Park is a national park in the northern part of Costa Rica, which forms part of the Arenal Tempisque Conservation Area. The jewel of the national park is the Tenorio Volcano, from which it derives its name. The volcano was made part of the National Park in 1995 and is located about 26 miles northeast of Fortuna in the Guanacaste Province.
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