Maderas is a volcano in

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. With a height of , it is the smaller of the two volcanoes which make up the island of

Ometepe Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes rising out of Lake Nicaragua, located in the Rivas Department of the Republic of Nicaragua. Its name derives from the Nahuatl words ''ome'' (two) and ''tepetl'' (mountain), meaning "two mountains". It ...

Lake Nicaragua Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada (, , or ) is a freshwater lake in Nicaragua. Of tectonic origin and with an area of , it is the largest fresh water lake in Central America, the List of lakes by area, 19th largest lake in the world (by are ...

. Unlike Concepción, the other volcano on the island, Maderas has not been active in historical times. Its crater contains a crater lake. The slopes of Maderas are one of the few places on the Pacific side of Nicaragua where

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

s grow. The only other place where this ecosystem can be found is the

Mombacho Mombacho is a stratovolcano in Nicaragua, near the city of Granada. It is high. The Mombacho Volcano Nature Reserve is one of 78 protected areas of Nicaragua. Mombacho’s last eruption occurred in 1570. There is no historical knowledge of earl ...

volcano. Cloud forests are characterized by a rich plant and animal life, made possible by the high levels of humidity in the climate. Prehistoric

petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

have been found at the Maderas volcano. Climbing to the top of the volcano is a popular tourist activity. Tourists are strongly encouraged by local guiding companies to hire a guide, but the trail from the common starting point at Finca Magdalena is easy to see the entire way to the top. The hike to the top of the crater can be difficult, with steep inclines that become muddy during rainy weather. It rains often on Ometepe Island, so a slippery climb is likely, even in the dry season. The round-trip hike takes between 6 and 9 hours and changes from dry forest to humid forest to cloud forest. There are a number of animal species that dwell on the volcano, including the white-faced monkey, mountain crab,

howler monkey Howler monkeys (genus ''Alouatta'', monotypic in subfamily Alouattinae) are the most widespread primate genus in the Neotropical realm, Neotropics and are among the largest of the New World monkey, platyrrhines along with the muriquis (''Brachyte ...

s, and a number of butterflies including the blue morphos.

References

External links

Climbing the Maderas Volcano

Ometepe Island Info - Volcán Maderas
{{Authority control Mountains of Nicaragua Stratovolcanoes of Nicaragua Volcanic crater lakes Rivas Department Inactive volcanoes Pleistocene stratovolcanoes First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites North American 1000 m summits

See also

References

External links