Bribri

Bribri lies south of Cahuita, approximately 10 kilometers inland from the Caribbean Coast. It is the administrative center for all the Indian reservations in the neighboring area. The Indian influence is first apparent in the town itself. Bribri has little by way of tourist attractions, but does provide a bank for changing currency, a post office, a public telephone, and a hospital, set up by the Department of Health for the inhabitants of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca and the Indian reservations.

The reservation, with the unusual, name of Kekoldi, covers an area of 3,500 hectares, but not all of the land is fully owned by the Indians. Kekoldi merges into the Gandoca Manzanillo Park and, along with the reservations of Bribri and Cabecar and the protected natural area of La Amistad-Talamanca, forms an enormous park.

Some 200 people live on the reservation and participate in the park’s comprehensive projects of reforestation and the protection of endangered species. No commercial exploitation of nature is allowed within the reservation. Only Indians have the right to hunt and use plants growing in the park for their own needs.