Somoto Canyon & Las Segovias Route

This region boast a wide variety of natural resources and ecoturism, with an added touch of richness in terms of its long religious history. We shall visit the Marian Sanctuary of the Virgen of Guadalupe, in the town of Dipilto, the handycraft town of Totogalpa, Ciudad Antigua, as well as the Somoto Canyon and even a factory known for its delicious "rosquillas".

 

Somoto Canyon National Monument

 

 

Somoto Canyon is a canyon located in the Madriz department of Nicaragua. The Somoto Canyon National Monument protected area covers an area of approximately 170.31 hectares, of which 125 are in the actual zone of the canyon.

 

 

The Somoto Canyon was declared a national monument on November 29, 2005. The Somoto Canyon National Monument comprises one of 78 protected areas of Nicaragua and is managed by Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA).

History

 

The Somoto Canyon was relatively unexplored until a group of scientists from the Czech Republic and Nicaragua (INETER) discovered the canyon in 2004. The canyon is believed to have formed 5 to 13 million years ago during the Miocene period. After its discovery in 2004, the Somoto Canyon has been developing into a tourist attraction, further helping the growth of tourism in Nicaragua. However, this has also had a negative effect with incidents such as graffiti being written on the walls of the Canyon since its discovery. The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) and INETER sends technicians to clean and repair the vandalism.