Murciélago Sector is located on the Santa Elena Peninsula north of Santa Elena Sector and southwest of the town Cuajiniquil, La Cruz with the Pacific Ocean to its north. It is composed of 13,375 ha of dry forest that was threatened for many years by hunting, agriculture, logging, ranching, and forest fires. Today the forest is regenerating naturally as woody species dispersed from left over seed banks overtake pasture grasses such as jaragua (Hyparrhenia rufa), an introduced african species used for cattle. This sector also includes the Santa Elena Bay that has an important coral reef community and mangroves both rich in marine biodiversity. 

Sectors Program Management

Murciélago is open to tourists with many attractions including beaches, trails, dry forest, rivers and mangroves. The sector is staffed with personnel who inform visitors about the area as well as perform vigilance and protection duties throughout the year against illegal hunting and logging with special emphasis on controlling forest fires during the dry season (December to May).

History

This sector was formerly known as Murciélago Ranch and was owned by General Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the last dictator of Nicaragua from the Somoza dynasty from whom it was expropriated by the Costa Rican government under President Rodrigo Carazo Odio on November 13th, 1980. It became part of Santa Rosa National Park through executive order N° 12062-A and then ratified as a single entity within Santa Rosa National Park on August 25th, 1982 under law N° 6794. Other parts of the ranch were incorporated into the Instituto de Desarrollo Agrario (IDA) as an area now known as "Las Parcelas" to be distributed among small landowners from Cuajiniquil.