La Amistad Biosphere Reserve is a vast transboundary protected area straddling the border of Panama and Costa Rica, with access from the Panamanian highlands near Cerro Punta in the Chiriquí province. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and Man and the Biosphere Reserve, the area encompasses over 200,000 hectares on the Panamanian side alone, ranging from lowland tropical rainforests to cloud forests and high-altitude páramo ecosystems. The reserve shelters extraordinary biodiversity including jaguars, pumas, tapirs, giant anteaters, howler monkeys, over 600 bird species including the resplendent quetzal, and 91 species of amphibians. It represents one of the most ecologically significant protected wilderness areas in all of Central America.
