The hiking maps are a project of the UNAG NS (Unión Nacional de Agricultores y Ganaderos Nueva Segovia), an umbrella federation of small and medium farmers in Nicaragua. The implementation of this tourism project was done in collaboration with the Belgian NGO Volens which supports local associations in Central and South America and Africa.
With this project of community based toursim, we want to reinforce the local communities in Nueva Segovia and expose the beauty of an unkown region.
The mountainous, northern department of Nicaragua has a variety of interesting attractions to offer, including hot springs, scenic forested mountains, coffee cooperatives, indigenous villages, accessible waterfalls, old gold mines, and artisanal production of several types of handicrafts (artesanía de pino,ceramics etc.).
Among the main characteristics of this productive region are the cooler climate, the ancient rural settlements with brown adobe walls and red tile-roofed houses, and the pine forests that cover the mountain chains. Together with the departments Madriz and Estelí, Nueva Segovia forms part of a larger area known as Las Segovias.
In the last century, the department provided the setting for various military actions. First there was the nationalist General Sandino and his ´Crazy Little Army´, who were fighting to defend Nicaraguan sovereignty in the 1920s. In the 1960s, the mountains of Nueva Segovia formed the battlefield during the Sandinista revolution where the rebel Sandinistas launched their first attacks against the Somoza administration. And finally in the 1980s, the Contras waged war against the Sandinista Government in these same mountains.
Today, you can hardly believe that the department Nueva Segovia was the battleground for so many hard fights. Most of the northern ranges and plains are full of sleepy villages with ancient churches, rustic cowboys and smiling children.
The department Nueva Segovia consists of 12 municipalities: Jalapa, Quilalí, Ocotal, Dipilto, Murra, Mozonte, Wiwilí de Nueva Segovia, Ciudad Antigua, San Fernando, Santa María, Macuelizo and El Jícaro.
