Hanging Bridge Through the Monteverde Cloud Forest Canopy

Monteverde's cloud forest reserve sits along the Tilarán mountain range's continental divide, where trade winds off the Caribbean push moisture into the forest, keeping the canopy perpetually damp. The reserve protects roughly 10,500 hectares of forest and is home to an estimated 2,500 plant species, including hundreds of orchids and epiphytes that grow on the trees themselves rather than in soil. Suspension bridges like this one were built to let visitors move through the upper canopy, where much of the forest's biodiversity — birds, insects, and mammals — actually lives, without cutting new trails through the understory below.