Indio Maíz Biological Reserve

Indio Maíz Biological Reserve is situated on the southeastern corner of Nicaragua bordering the San Juan River and Costa Rica.

[2] In recent years, a growing timber and oil palm industry has led to increasing rates of deforestation along the northern and western flanks of Indio Maíz.

[3] The Indio Maíz Biological Reserve is a remnant of the "Áreas Naturales Protegidas del Sureste de Nicaragua" established in 1990 during the first Sandinista government.

[4] Most of the Biological Reserve is out of bounds to tourists and no hiking is permitted, only boat tours with guides at starting two locations: the Bartola River at the western border near the village of El Castillo, and Greytown.

[4] Some of the mammals present include pumas, jaguars, armadillos, fishing bulldog bat, sloths, raccoons, collared peccary and tame manatees.

[7] Other rare species of bird include scarlet macaws, harpy eagle, three-wattled bellbird (Procnias tricarunculatus) and great curassow (Crax rubra).

Among the amphibian family, there are brightly colored poison dart frogs like Oophaga pumilio[9] and as of 2014 it is one of only three places in Nicaragua where the toad Incilius melanochlorus has been recorded.

[13] Floristically, Indio Maíz is comparable to that of other Caribbean lowland forests found on the eastern-facing slopes of Costa Rica including the adjacent Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge and Tortuguero National Park, located immediately south of the reserve.

Some of the woody species found include: Astronium graveolens, Carpotroche platyptera, Clavija jelskii, Luehea seemanii, Mansoa hymenaea, Posoqueria latifolia, and Sorocea affinis.