Size: 9,154 hectares
Distance from San José: 219 kilometers
Camping: Not permitted
Dry season: None

This reserve is located in a region of very rugged terrain and high humidity. It rains over 3,500 mm. a year and there is no defined dry season. As a result of this heavy rainfall, the reserve is crisscrossed by innumerable rock-strewn streams and swift, whitewater rivers. Spectacular waterfalls plunge from considerable heights throughout the reserve.

Hitoy-cerere is an Indian name and means: Hitoy means wooly, a reference to the fact that the rocks in this river are covered with moss and algae, while Cerere means clear waters.
The forests are thick evergreen with several stories and an immense biological complexity.

Due to the environmental factors such as soil, slope incline, drainage and exposure to wind, several habitats have evolved that are markedly different according to tree height and forest composition. The elevation of the forest cover varies, although it is generally quite high.

Most of the trees that live here are cloaked by mosses and lichen, and orchids, bromeliads, and other epiphytic plants cascade from the branches. Tree ferns grow in the understorey and the ground is covered with selaginella.

This reserve is surrounded by indigenous reserves: the Telire, the Talamanca and the Tayní.
There is a wealth and variety of wildlife in the reserve, although most of the species are either nocturnal or live in the tree-tops and are therefore difficult to see.

In this park the frogs and toads are very numerous but they have not been studied yet.
The Hitoy-Cerere region forms part of the Talamanca Mountain Range.

Not many biological studies have been made in the reserve and there are even areas which have not yet been explored, this reserve also is not very visited. Maybe because of its precipitous terrain and wet climate, but these factors have produced a biological diversity that may prove to be one of the richest in Costa Rica.

Trees found here: crabwood, wild tamarind, Santa Maria, silk cotton, possum-wood, nargusta, malady, balsa, bully tree, gumbo-limbo, cow tree.

Animals found here: the three-toed sloth, silky anteater, gray four-eyed opossum, otter, woolly opossum, tapir, jaguar, red brocket, tayra, margay cat, collared peccary, and howler and white-faced capuchin monkey.

Birds found here: Montezuma oropendola, turkey vulture, blue-headed parrot, cayenne squirrel-cuckoo, spectacled owl, blue-crested hummingbird, slaty-tailed trogon, green kingfisher, and keel-billed toucan, and also 115 of other species.