Rio Pacuare, Costa Rica
I kayaked the Pacuare in the early 2000s, when it was threatened by a proposed hydroelectric project. In the years since, the river is apparently safe again from development, however one never knows when new proposals will appear. As river canyons exemplify the notion of "out of sight, out of mind," they're particularly vulnerable to environmental legislation / energy policies that can count on little public opposition. Only those few indigenous people which live nearby and rely on the clean, free-flowing river for their survival, and/or those in the travel industry who help develop new local economies in the region, really even ever see these places and care about them. With its warm water and large, fun, but not particularly consequential rapids, the Pacuare is a classic whitewater rafting trip and the only way to access these otherwise nearly impenetrable sections of cloudforest.
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