Celaque National Park visitor guide to seasonal climate and timing in Lempira

Honduras' highest mountain preserve protecting vital cloud forest watersheds

Celaque National Park

Celaque National Park represents one of Honduras' most significant protected areas, preserving a critical mountain ecosystem in the western highlands. The park straddles the Lempira Department, Ocotepeque, and Copán regions, encompassing rugged terrain that rises dramatically from lower elevations around 975 metres to the summit of Cerro Las Minas at approximately 2,870 metres. This elevation gradient supports distinct ecological zones, with cloud forest dominating the higher reaches where moisture-laden clouds settle on the forest canopy. The park's establishment in 1987 followed a decade of intensive logging that threatened the region's biodiversity and water resources. Local communities, particularly residents of La Campa, organized to protect their watershed and natural heritage, successfully advocating for national protection that removed some 266 square kilometres from logging, agriculture, and commercial forestry exploitation. Today, the park continues to face challenges from human settlements within its boundaries and surrounding land use pressures, though it remains a vital refuge for species adapted to its montane cloud forest environments.