The size of Nicaragua is roughly the same size as Greece or the state of New York. The beauty secret of Nicaragua as a natural habitat is due to vast amounts of National Parks, Nature Reserves and Biological Reserves that cover over 20% of the country’s landmass.

On the south the country borders with the stunningly diverse Costa Rica and to the north, the beautiful Honduras. The whole country has 3 geographical regions: the Pacific Lowlands, the North-Central Mountains and the Atlantic lowlands.

The Pacific Lowlands
These consist of a fertile, hot plain in the west of the country with several large volcanoes; Mombacho and Momotombo being the most famous. The lowlands are also home to Lake Nicaragua which is the largest freshwater lake in Central America and home to the only freshwater shark in the world, the Nicaraguan shark. Half of the country’s populations live here in the Pacific lowlands mainly due to the capital city Managua that has over 1 million inhabitants. A lot of Nicaraguan’s Spanish colonial heritage lies in these lowlands, obvious from the stunningly grand edifices in the cities, especially Granada and Leon.

Central Highlands
Being further upland, the temperature here is much cooler than that of the Pacific Lowlands. This region is very agriculturally active with a lot of coffee farming and beautiful undisturbed wildlife. Birds such as the Resplendent Quetzal, goldfinches, hummingbirds, jays and toucanets all play around in the skies as a frequent event.

Atlantic lowlands
This region is very sparsely populated and made up of dense rainforest and large rivers. The Rio Coco, the largest river in Central America and the Bosawas Biosphere reserve, the largest rainforest north of the Amazon, are both located in the Atlantic lowlands. The climate here is very tropical with a very high humidity and high temperature with an abundance of animal and birdlife.

This article was written by Caroline Wilson, a web consultant for Nicaragua Vacations