Cerro Saslaya was named a national park through Executive Decree 17-89, published in the official newspaper La Gaceta No. 208 on March 27, 1971. Due to the representative ecosystems and most prominent natural features such as being part of the mountain range Isabelia and be part of the Bosawás biosphere reserve, which represents 15% of the national territory.
It is located at the western end of Zelaya, about 20 kilometers southeast of the town of Siuna, has an area of 15,000 hectares and is the largest national park in Nicaragua, attractive for tourists who prefer to climb mountains. The Cerro Saslaya National Park in a mountainous massif with a strongly rugged geology, with numerous rivers that are born or are fed by the waters of these mountains; with deep soils, clayey and dark on the surface and red-yellow in the subsoil, they are porous and of good drainage.
It presents cloud forest and tropical humid forest, which houses a varied fauna represented by monkeys, jaguar, tiger, deer, tapir, wild hen, partridge, among others. The climate in the very humid parts has an annual rainfall of approximately 3,000 mm and an average temperature of 25 ° C.