Cocos Island National Park protects the peak of an ancient submarine volcano rising up out of the eastern Pacific Ocean. The forest-clad "treasure" island, where pirates were rumored to have hidden their valuable hoards, boasts true natural riches including a number of endemic plant and animal species found nowhere else on earth. The waters surrounding the island offer some of the best diving in the world, and are inhabited by giant manta rays, hammerhead sharks and other unusual marine creatures. The United Nations declared Cocos Island a World Heritage Site in 1997.

Location: The park is located in the Pacific Ocean 532 kilometers (330.6 miles) southeast of Costa Rica, five-and-a-half degrees north of the equator.

Size: 2,400 hectares / 5,930.4 acres

Marine extension: 97,235 hectares / 240,267.7 acres

Created: June 22, 1978

Cocos Island National Park provides a vivid example of natural evolution: this tiny speck of land surrounded by the vast Pacific Ocean is home to more than 100 endemic plant and insect species, as well as a few endemic birds and reptiles. Cocos is also the only island in the eastern Pacific to bear rain forest.

The island's rough terrain gives way to an abundance of crystal-clear cascades, some falling down steep coastal cliffs into the ocean far below. The coastal cliffs rise up to 183 meters (600 feet) above the sea, harboring mysterious caves where pirates are rumored to have hidden their valuable hoards.

Cocos Island is a territory of unparalleled beauty and natural treasures. The island's tallest peak, Cerro Iglesias, rises 634 meters (2,080 feet) above the sea and is covered with misty cloud forest where ferns, bromeliads and endemic huriki and cupey palms abound. Rivers and streams run through hills and small valleys on their short journey to the sea. Around the island, a number of rocky crags and peaks provide safe breeding grounds for sea gulls and other birds.

The area is extremely rainy, with precipitation levels averaging about 7 meters (23 feet) per year. The driest months are from January to March. Temperatures at Cocos are usually quite warm, and the island is frequently covered in clouds.

Within Cocos Island National Park, scientists have identified 235 species of plants (including 70 endemic species), 362 insects (including 64 endemic species), 97 species of birds (including three endemics), two endemic reptiles (a lizard and a salamander), 57 crustaceans, 118 mollusks, five species of freshwater fish, 18 species of coral and more than 200 species of saltwater fish.

The endemic birds of Cocos are the Cocos Cuckoo, Cocos Flycatcher and Cocos Finch, related to the famous Darwin's finches of the Galapagos Islands. The waters around Cocos contain white-tipped and hammerhead sharks, giant yellowfin tuna, manta rays, whales, marine turtles and colorful schools of fish.

Lying halfway between Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, it is doubtful Native Americans knew of the island's existence before the arrival of Europeans to the new continent. Spanish captain Juan Cabezas and his crew first described the island in 1526, and in 1556 it appeared on a world map produced by Nicolas Desliens.

Cocos Island served as a refuge for pirates, whalers and other seafaring adventurers from the 1600's to the mid-1800's. According to legend, valuable treasures have been hidden at Cocos, including the legendary Treasure of Lima, a hoard of gold and silver ingots and sheets of gold from church steeples; the treasure of William Davies in 1684; and the treasure of Benito "Bloody Sword" Bonito around 1819.

The origins of the thousands of wild pigs that inhabit Cocos are often credited to British whaler Captain Belcher, who reportedly left a few pigs on the island in 1838 to ensure fresh meat when he returned.

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