Travel report Costa Rica
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Friday March 10 After leaving the airport behind me, and heading for my first National Park, my first impressions of Costa Rica were: The capital, San José, is a real nightmare to drive through because of the many one-way streets (badly indicated) and street signs are as good as nonexistent. Luckily, I found a good solution. I simply used the morning sun to guide me eastwards through this labyrinth towards my first destination: "Tapanti".
Saturday March 11 Hardly one mile from the park's entrance, I found a friendly place to sleep, the Kiri Lodge, with its trout-fishing ponds which attracted many Black vultures.
After a good night's sleep and dreaming of brightly coloured tropical frogs, I got up early and enjoyed a typical Costa Rican breakfast served by Jennifer Lopez. Was I still dreaming? Nope, my hostess was a very pretty lady indeed! And what is more, she even placed bananas and a melon next to the window, for me to enjoy the birds coming to eat the fruit. I've seen more birds in that garden than in the whole park.
Sunday March 12 On the move to Manuel Antonio NP, a Pacific slope forest with some beautiful beaches.
After closing time, I decided to look for a place to spend the night and drive further the next morning. A beautiful Swallow-tailed kite, which flew over while I was dragging my bags to my room, was the most impressive observation of the day.
Monday March 13 When I reached the first major river, I realised why I only saw 4X4 cars and trucks. I was driving a little red sports car and made quite a fool of myself driving it along those rugged roads. To make a long story short, all went well and the car didn't submerge nor did it loose vital parts. I even reached Manuel Antonio the same day and still had plenty of time to visit the beautiful beach.
The park itself is closed on Mondays because the beautiful forest-backed tropical beaches, rocky headlands with ocean and island views, prolific wildlife and a clearly marked trail system makes it one of the most popular parks in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, this has led to intense pressure on the park: too many visitors, too many hotels and too much impact on the wildlife and environment. Therefore, the number of visitors is limited to 600 during the week and 800 on weekends and holidays.
Tuesday March 14 Was first at the gate and enjoyed a great morning on the still tranquil beaches. The first animal I spotted was a rather lazy ctenosaur who had difficulties deciding whether to get up or stay in its nest. A bit like me on most days.
I took quite a few pictures of the crabs, which stayed in front of their burrows and quickly dissappeared when I came too close. When you stay very still, they reappear after a few minutes and allow you to snap a few shots. There are three species of monkey in the park: the endangered Central American squirrel monkey, the very common and easy to see white-faced capuchins and the noisy howler monkeys.
By noon, the beaches were packed with sunbathers, so I retreated in the forest in search for more creepy crawlies. I found very few insects but quite a lot of lizards, mostly anoles.
Wednesday March 15 I decided to spend another day at Manuel Antonio though I'm not so fond of the big crowds you encounter here. It has that "amusement park" feeling, comparable to the "Old Faithful" area in Yellowstone. So, I quickly left the beaches where most people gather and discovered a neat, little path with a promising sign: "Enter at own risk. Adventurous path in bad condition". They don't have to tell me that twice, so I quickly disappeared in the thick vegetation and spend a couple of hours in this little paradise which I had all to myself. Well, not exactly. I soon got company by a group of White-faced capucin monkeys, a white-nosed coati crossed my path (had never heard of such an animal before) and I almost ran with my face into the web of a beautiful golden orb spider.
The tranquil path led to a river and there should have been a waterfall. Unfortunately, there wasn't a drop of water to be seen 'cause it was the end of the dry season. On my way back, I noticed some slight movement from the corner of my eye. When I looked up, I saw a Three-toed sloth slowly climbing towards another tree, looking for its favorite food: leaves. I was very glad to see one because sloths are very special animals which spend about 70% of their time asleep or inactive. Most of that time is devoted to digestion. Their convoluted gut can store about a third of their body mass but to reduce their weight (so they can remain aloft), they have sacrificed muscle mass which explains why they are so sluggish.
Thursday March 16 After a short drive on excellent roads, I reached the next park, "Carara". Like Manuel Antonio, it is rather small, but without yesterday's big crowds and thus very tranquil. The only people I met were a few birders who were looking for the more than 400 bird species which have been recorded in this park. Carara is a biological melting pot, a transition between the northwestern dry forests and the Pacific rainforests.
The White capuchin monkeys were again present as well as Howler monkeys, high up in the trees. Carara is also a great place to look for the spectacular Scarlet macaws. I saw quite a few of them as well as a Rainbow-billed toucan with its huge colorful bill. Couldn't take any pictures because they disappeared too quickly high up in the trees. Also lots of ctenosaurs and other, smaller reptiles, mostly anoles.
Two km further north from the park's main entrance is a wide trail along the Rio Tarcoles where you have a chance of encountering red brockets, white-tailed deer, collared peccaries, Central American agoutis and tayras. I walked there in the late afternoon and after a good mile, I reached a beautiful lagoon. It was a very peaceful place where I enjoyed looking at the different species of herons and the spectacled caimans. Time flew by and I can tell you, the light goes out very fast in the tropics. In almost complete darkness and without a flashlight, I had to find my way back to my car. A rather scary experience which I like to avoid in the future. Friday March 17 I decided to spend another day in Carara.
With a big smile on my face, I went back to the little lagoon where I took my time spotting the many birds that were present, like the boat-billed herons, anhingas, black-necked stilts, and many, many more. People told me that a bit further, there's a bridge over the Rio Grande de Tarcoles which offers a great view on the American crocodiles, sunbathing right below on the sandbanks. Should also be a good spot for photographing scarlet macaws, flying over at eye level. So, off I went. As long as I was there, I didn't see a single macaw but boy, were those crocs huge. Because it was late afternoon and the sun was very low, the light produced funny cartoon-like shadows of the crocodile's teeth.
Saturday March 18 Although I like Carara NP very much, it's time to move on. My next stop will be Monteverde. I'm a little scared to tackle the 35 km long gravel road in my little red sportscar after I read about it in my "Lonely Planet" guide book. It says the following: "All roads here are shockingly rough, and a 4WD is necessary all year, especially in the rainy season. Many car-rental agencies will refuse to rent you an ordinary car during the rainy season if you admit that you're headed to Monteverde.". All went well and when I finally arrived at Monteverde, I looked under the car and nope... there was no oil dripping.
Ah, Monteverde..., home of the tarantulas and the poison dart frogs. And the resplendent quetzals, the 26 species of hummingbirds, olingos, kinkajous, margays and many, many, many more. Unfortunately all were very well hidden under the leaves or high up in the canopy. In the late afternoon, it started to rain. Well, it's a cloud forest after all.
Sunday March 19 Though Monteverde offers nice cloud forest scenery, there was very little wildlife to see during the day. And because the entrance fee was twice as expensive, compared to the other parks, and the weather was bad and I still didn't have that many pictures of frogs and creepy crawlies, I decided to visit the local "Ranario" and "Mundo de los Insectos". Both places offered me to take pictures of animals I would probably not find on my own in the true wild. A great bonus was that you could visit the Ranaria again in the evening when the frogs became more active. Needless to say, I had one very, very busy day.
Monday March 20 Going west, my next stop is "Palo Verde".
After a long drive on gravel roads, I reached the park's entrance. It was very, very hot and apart from a ranger there was nobody. I payed my entrance fee and booked two days for the campsite (7$/day). Little did I know that the "campsite" offered .... nothing. Not even running water, no toilets, just absolutely... nothing, nada, niente, zero. Ah well, I had lots of water with me and enough bread and jam to last me a couple of days. After installing camp, an agouti passed by to say hello and soon after, a group of white-faced capuchins were looking down on me to investigate their intruder. While going for a little walk towards the Rio Tempisque, I noticed a young spectacled caiman in a little creek. It had a strange look on its face and after looking through my binoculars, I noticed that the upper half of its snout was missing. Probably lost it in a fight.
In the evening, I enjoyed the many ducks, herons, jacana's, grebes, spoonbills and ibis that congregate in the marches. When it was completely dark, I went for a tour with my Petzl headlamp. I found several nightjars sitting on the path and was surprised how many white-tailed deer were on the way to the open marches to drink. I looked especially for the two species of armadillo which could be found in this aera but had no luck. Bats were constantly hunting, right in front of me, for flying insects which were drawn by the light of my headlamp. It was amazing from how far you could spot the reflecting shiny eyes of moths and spiders. The many eyes of a spider, the size of a coin, looked like little sparkling diamants from 10 meters away.
Tuesday March 21 Hot, hot, hot!
Dragging along 15 kg of camera equipment, including a heavy tripod and lots of water, uphill and in 30°C temperatures wasn't funny anymore. By noon, I got back to my tent and I enjoyed a siesta till 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Some Variegated squirrels kept me company. When I was ready for another stroll in the park, I spotted a Red-cheecked mud turtle crossing my path. At nightfall, I spotted more and more turtles coming from the marches and heading toward the forest. Some frightening calls in the distance gave me goose bumps. I soothed my nerves by deluding myself it must be a Howler monkey.
Wednesday March 22 Because of my limited budget and the heat, I decided not to go further west to Santa Rosa NP and then all the way up to Caño Negro (where I had to hire boats as well), but headed back, the same way I came. I really wanted to visit Carara and Tapanti again.
From the little town Bagaces, I had good roads all the way to Carara and arrived there in the late afternoon. I couldn't resist visiting the little lagoon once more, which really is my favoutite spot in Costa Rica so far. It's such a peaceful place and I sat there for a few hours watching the birds and the caimen.
Thursday March 23 Went last night for a stroll along the beach, but except for a couple, skinny-dipping in the Pacifc Ocean, there wasn't much to see. Well, that's not exactly true. I did enjoy the zillion shiny stars above my head. A spectacle, I can't see in crowdy and heavily light-pollutioned Belgium.
When I reached a little creek, I looked for the tiny, but very colorful poison dart frogs. They are wearing flamboyant colors to advertise their toxicity. The Colombian Chocó Indians use poison dart frogs to coat their blowdart-tips. After a while, I noticed a beautiful "Black and green dart frog". A little further was another one clmbing a huge fig tree. When I approached it, it jumped to the ground and quickly disappeared among the leaves. Boy, those are difficult little devils to photograph.
In the late afternoon, I visited again, yep you guessed right, the little lagoon with its herons and caimen. When I got there, huge clouds were drifting towards me and I could hear thunder roaring in the distance. While still busy taking pictures, big raindrops started splashing on my head and camera. I didn't bring a raincoat nor umbrella with me and, of course, soon hell broke loose. A real cloudburst, accompanied by heavy thunder and lightning forced me to take shelter under the giant leaves of the "Poor man's umbrella" (Gunnera talamancana). I stood there for half an hour, while it was getting rapidly dark. I sure wasn't going to make twice the same mistake by walking back in total darkness (of course, I had forgotten my headlamp as well). So, rain or no rain, I hurried back to my car. I got back safe and didn't step on any fer-de-lance nor bushmaster but looked as if I had just swam over the English Canal.
Friday March 24 Back in Manuel Antonio NP.
When the coatis disappeared further into the forest, I noticed I wasn't far from the little "adventurous" trail, I mentioned earlier. So, I took another look in there. After half an hour, while I was busy looking under leaves and bark for creepy crawlies, I heard a rustling noise closeby. To my big surprise, I found a thin but very long (I guess between 1,5 and 2 meters) Satiny parrot snake on the ground which had just caught a frog. Unfortunately, I could only start taking pictures when the frog had almost completely disappeared inside the snake. Ah well, it was a great sighting so I shouldn't complain.
Saturday March 25 It's best to avoid weekends at Manuel Antonio because it can get very crowdy. So, I decided to tackle to long road back to the first park I visited. Though the distance to Tapanti doesn't look far on a map, it took me many, many hours to reach this tranquil place due to the very bad road conditions.
Tapanti has all six of Costa Rica's cat species and though they are all very elusive, a puma with cubs was sighted fairly regularly on the entrance road during 2002. While I was thinking about that, suddenly, a big animal crossed my path, just a few meters in front of me. It gave me the creeps. While my arms were collecting goose bumps, I soon realised this wasn't a big cat but a huge weasel-like creature, I've certainly never had seen before. I was just in time to take a second quick glance at it with my binoculars before it disappeared completely in the dense vegetation. Turned out to be a tayra. They are also known as "tree otters" because they hunt in the trees as well as on the ground. Anything smaller than them is fair game for these opportunistic animals.
Sunday March 26 It rained all night and in the morning, it was still heavily overcast. No more blue skies. Went back to the park and for the first time, I felt the need for wearing my rubber boots because the paths were turning muddy by now. Yep, the rainy season had started. Overcast weather is by far the best to take pictures in a forest because the clouds work like a giant diffuser, eliminating all harsh shadows by casting even light. Therefore, I took the opportunity to make some more habitat shots.
The purpose of this trip was to cover as much as possible of the Neotropics with its dry, rain and cloud forests. I don't need pictures of everything, but at least some of the characteristic species like sloths, poison dart frogs, leaf frogs, lizards, caimen, monkeys, bromeliads, heliconias and even bananas.
Didn't see many animals though I heard a group of noisy howler monkeys in the distance. Tapanti is too small on its own to support shy species and those requiring large habitats. But its unbroken connection to adjoining conservation areas means that the few trails here, are as productuve as anywhere else in La Amistad and with a lot of luck, you can even see Costa Rica's rearest cat, the oncilla. Didn't see it, but I found some of the 35.000 species of insects. Monday March 27 Almost time to leave.
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