Ecotourism in Northern Nicaragua

One of the things I have grown to love about Nicaragua is its environmental diversity. Here you find white-sand beaches and steaming volcanoes and enormous lakes, pine forests and cloud forests and thick jungle and mountains, all packed into a tiny country the size of New York state. Tourists are just starting to discover the amazing diversity of this tiny Central American country, and for better or worse, the tourism industry is beginning to seep into the remotest corners of Nicaragua.

We've been doing some touring ourselves for the past week or so, with both sets of our parents and my brother Jon. Most San Nicolaseños don't have the money to see even half of the places we've seen in their own beautiful country. But they do take advantage of the locally-designated tourist sites that they can easily reach on their own two feet. The nearby community of La Garnacha is not much different from any other community around San Nicolas, but because it has worked up an appeal to tourists from outside, San Nicolaseños take pride in it and visit it themselves, taking selfies at the lookout and buying bags of chips at the pulperia in town.

San Nicolas, on the other hand, is in no tourist guide book; it's not a stop on the tourist trail. The only other gringos we ever see in town are Peace Corps gringos. But if you want to visit a remote, mountainous, agricultural area like San Nicolas, there are lots of small ecotourism ventures, both in our area south of Esteli (the Tisey Nature Reserve), and in the Miraflor protected area north of Esteli too. We've spent a lot of time in Tisey and visited Miraflor last week with our parents. Here is why you should visit too.

Tisey Estanzuela Nature Reserve

Before I came here, I never would have believed that there could be pines in such a tropical climate, but in Tisey, they're everywhere. From the overlook at La Garnacha, on a clear day you can look out on the pine-covered mountains in Tisey, all the way to Volcan Momotombo in Lake Managua. There are plenty of hikes to do in this area; take the trail past the La Garnacha overlook to hike to the top of the Cerro Apaguajil, or walk through cow pastures to reach the rock sculptor, Alberto Gutierrez, who carves images on the side of a cliff.

There are a scattering of families and groups who have begun tourism projects in Tisey. We're of course most familiar with La Garnacha, an organic farm, retreat center, and small community in the mountains close to San Nicolas. One family in La Garnacha owns a farm called El Carrizo; they invite tourists to volunteer on their organic farm in exchange for partial room and board. Closer to Esteli is the Ecoposada, a restaurant with lodging that also has a hike up to a beautiful lookout over all of Tisey. And not far outside of Esteli is the Salto Estanzuela, a crashing waterfall above a little pool of water where you can swim.

Miraflor Protected Area

In Miraflor, rolling green hills and fields of potatoes are interspersed with cloud forest, jungle, and enormous trees. Farmers make their living among patches of thick rain forest, home to howler monkeys and trogon birds. There are various communities offering home stays to tourists throughout Miraflor, but we have only visited the highest-elevation level, close to Cebollal. We stayed at Finca Neblina del Bosque in a bamboo cabin overlooking flowers and potato fields. We went on a bird-watching hike one morning and within only a couple hours, had seen 40 different species. At this higher part of Miraflor, you can hike to a giant matapalo tree through the Finca La Soñada or walk through farmland to the waterfall Posa Azul, where you can cool off in the really-cold pool below the falls.

In both Tisey and Miraflor, you'll get a taste of real rural Nicaraguan life. Here, you can learn how to make tortillas or milk cows or just take in the tranquility of these undeveloped natural areas. In the rural hills of Nicaragua, the prime industry since forever has been agriculture, so the people who live here don't have much money. Now small-scale tourism is, for the first time, bringing these families just enough money to improve their standards of living as well as granting them a sense of pride in the beautiful land that is their home.