Costa Rica - Corcovado

We arrived in Sierpe in the afternoon and had a mini-tour of the town with our guide, Manfred. 

One of the mysterious bolas de piedra - stone balls

One of the more interesting archaeological artifacts in Costa Rica are the stone spheres found throughout the area. They are thought to be from the Diqui culture, carved around 1500 years ago - but their origins are basically unknown since their creators disappeared after the Spanish conquest. 

After walking through the tiny town, we then took a boat downriver to Corcovado. We had a wet landing but were thrilled to be in the heart of the rainforest. We checked into the Corcovado Wilderness Lodge, situated right on the edge of the National Park. 

Lineated Woodpecker

Central American Spider Monkey

After a brief rest, we went for a guided evening walk around the property. We saw several birds - a woodpecker, heron, macaws, and toucans - as well as a spider monkey enjoying dinner from a fig tree. Halfway through the walk, we stopped at the Margarita Bar for sunset. The view of the Pacific Ocean and Cano Island on the horizon was incredible - it's definitely where we planned to relax before dinner every night!

Not gonna complain about this view!

Hello, darkness, my old friend

Red-eyed tree frog

After it got dark, we saw a variety of fascinating creatures, including gladiator tree frogs, red-eye tree frogs, bullfrogs, toads, tarantulas, and even a juvenile fer-de-lance snake that Manfred almost stepped on. We realized why he had emphasized the importance of having a reliable flashlight and being careful during our walks. It was an exciting, albeit slightly scary experience. 

A huge Costa Rican Orangemouth tarantula was known to live in a tree on a side path. Tarantulas are large, venomous spiders that are primarily nocturnal, so we stopped to see if it had come out of his home. This guy was about the size of my open hand... but I wasn't going to get close enough to double check...

After the walk, we had dinner at the lodge. It rained HARD during dinner, and we got soaked walking back to our room. And since each casita only had screens with no glass in the windows, we could hear the steady downpour all through the night. Made it feel like we were truly in the rainforest!

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5

Our visit to Corcovado started early the next day as we geared up for our hike into the National Park. The park, located on the Osa Peninsula, is known for its dense rainforest and incredible biodiversity. The hike was wild and had a similar feel to the Amazon rainforest, with a lot less bugs but definitely hot and very humid after yesterday’s heavy rain.

Yer so great, Mr. Curassow

Didn't really want to hug these trees...

The Osa Peninsula is a unique location, surrounded by beach and dense rainforest. Corcovado National Park, located on the peninsula, is considered one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, with around 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity. We were excited to experience the wild rainforest and explore the area. We were greeted by a variety of bird species, with the Great Curassow being the most prominent. 

A pretty little ghost anole

As we continued our hike, we made our way down to San Pedrillo Beach. Unfortunately, the beach was home to a swarm of little invisible sand flies that relentlessly attacked us and left us with many bites.

Night orchid

We continued on our hike along the beach, taking in the sight of coconuts that had sprouted and even spotting a night orchid. 

Back at San Pedrillo Beach, we saw an American crocodile in a lagoon, as well as several herons. When, as we were relaxing before our return hike, I spotted a random shape in the surf. It was another crocodile, swimming in the ocean! Crocodiles can grow up to 14 feet long and weigh up to 2,000 pounds, so I totally get it that they warned us not to go into the water!

Common black hawk

Scarlet Macaw

After the hike, we made our way back to the resort for a picnic lunch on the beach. On the walk back, we were greeted by several bird species, including a Common black hawk, keel-billed toucans, scarlet macaws, and crested guans.

After a much needed shower, we had a lovely massage overlooking the ocean; then went straight to Margarita Bar for drinks. 

Not a bad place for a massage...

Manfred showed us the footage from the camera traps around the park, showing tapir, peccaries, agouti, coati. On another camera, there was footage of an ocelot, puma, and jaguar that crossed the same area in the span of one week! We spent some time chatting with Manfred about conservation and education, which made for an interesting evening. 

THURSDAY, APRIL 6

Today we opted to take a tour into the largest mangrove on the Pacific Coast. A mangrove is a plant that grows in brackish water, where fresh and salt water mix. They absorb and store a huge amount of carbon and their roots protect the coastlines from erosion, so they play a big role in fighting climate change. Additionally, they provide an important habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. The mangroves near Drake Bay make up the largest mangrove forest in Costa Rica, so we were eager to get a closer look.

We took the boat over to the Sierpe River, then slowly made our way back towards town. We stopped in several inlets to see up close the red mangroves and the animals who lived there. 

On one of our first stops we spied a tiny Amazon Kingfisher, and while we were admiring the bird, our boat driver Junior spotted a three-toed sloth in the tree above. It’s amazing what the locals see that we can’t!

Taking a break from working at the DMV...

Continuing up the river, we saw tons of mangrove crabs in the roots and on the bank. We also found an American pygmy kingfisher, a troop of several dozen squirrel monkeys, a sunning anhinga with outstretched wings, and a very well-hidden potoo. 

We see you, potoo!

One of the most interesting finds was a yellow-headed caracara that we being attacked by two very territorial social flycatchers – it was fun watching the bold little flycatchers swooping down to divebomb the much larger hawk:

Another surprising sight while motoring back downriver was a large American crocodile swimming in the Sierpe River! It was unusual to see a crocodile in this area so close to town, but the locals say that lately they’ve been told not to swim in the river because of this very risk.

The lovely view from the Margarita Bar

After returning to the resort, we had a relaxing afternoon and evening, hanging out at the Margarita Bar and playing cards with the three kids that we'd met and befriended.

FRIDAY, APRIL 7
While our original plan was just to relax for the day, we decided to take advantage of a last-minute opportunity to join Jose’s hike through the forest surrounding the lodge. Since it was our last day in Corcovado, we decided jump on the opportunity. The hike was particularly interesting since we crossed thought both primary and secondary forest.

We saw many strange fungi, including ones that looked like fur and another that looked like white veins on the trunk of a tree. These fungi play important roles in the ecosystem, breaking down dead plant matter and recycling nutrients back into the soil.

The Corcovado rainforest is just as lush as the Amazon, but it was interesting that there was a marked difference in the number of bugs. We did see ants, grasshoppers, and moths, but it was nowhere near the quantity that we saw (and heard!!) in Tambopata the year before. While it made for a much more comfortable hike, it also made Costa Rica feel like 'jungle-lite.' 

Nonetheless, it's not all fun and games out there! Near the end of the hike, we heard a loud distress call from a spider monkey. Jose explained that at first, he thought the monkey was warning of a nearby predator, but upon closer inspection, he realized that the monkey had likely lost its baby. It was a vivid reminder that nature is metal!

The beautiful buttress roots of taller trees help keep them stable in strong winds

Shimmering golden sugar ants. I even love the name!

My favorite sighting of the day was a group of shimmering golden sugar ants feasting on a grasshopper leg. The ants really did shimmer like metal - they were gorgeous! And I'm curious how big their dinner originally was, since one giant leg seemed like a challenge for the lot...

An early morning departure the next day took us by boat back to Sierpe, where we retrieved our car and drove straight back to San Jose to catch our flight home. 

Overall, Costa Rica is a remarkable place where visitors can easily experience amazing biodiversity. Having been to the Amazon the year before, I found it a bit too easy, and having paved walkways and scores of camera-wielding tourists meant a loss of the 'wildness' that I find special about nature. Even so, I think Costa Rica is a great, easy way for people to enjoy and experience the rainforest.

Bye, Costa Rica!

Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio

Early the next morning, we left for Manuel Antonio National Park, near the town of Quepos. Because it is so close to the capital San Jose, it’s busy and crowded. But we wanted to visit since my friend Allan was a guide and was available to take us around. I met Allan 6 years ago on my Earthwatch Fellowship, when we both spent a week at a biological field station working with leatherback sea turtles. I often see Allan’s social media posts highlighting the amazing animals that he sees, so I was eager to have him show us the park. 

...nature is so metal...!

I was excited to see what Manuel Antonio had to offer in terms of wildlife, and I wasn't disappointed. From the parking lot, we saw a troop of white-faced capuchin monkeys, who Allan told us were highly intelligent monkeys - sometimes scarily so. He sent us a video taken the week before of a capuchin who had stolen a baby spider monkey, and had started eating it while the baby was still alive. Ew.

Black spiny-tailed iguana

Jesus Christ lizard, aka basilisk

We saw a variety of fascinating creatures, including a gladiator frog, black spiny-tailed iguanas, a Jesus-Christ lizard. There were also some brightly colored land crabs, particularly near the mangrove forests.

Land crab

Manuel Antonio is interesting because it is so crowded and touristy. Many people head straight through the park to the beach for the beautiful soft white sands, but we wanted to see as much fauna as we could. There are boardwalks and paved paths that allow easy access through the rainforest, which mean huge crowds. 

Brown-throated three toed sloth baby

Two-toed sloth

Because of the throng, I was surprised by how many sloths we saw, especially since we only saw glimpse of one in the Amazon – here in Manuel Antonio, we saw 6 different sloths, and most were easy to spot! We saw two different species - a two-toed sloth (distinguishable by their tan coat and two toes on their front legs) which was harder to see since they are mostly nocturnal and this one was sleeping, and several three-toed sloths (with a grey coat and three front toes) which are diurnal. 

Because the park lies on the coast, part of the park includes a red mangrove forest along the transitional zone along the coastline. These plants are uniquely adapted to thriving in salt water, and red mangroves have a really cool way to tolerate such high salinity. 

So clever!

They sacrifice one leaf on each branch to send the salt, so looking across through the mangroves, you can easily see a single yellow leaf among each bunch. 

Thanks, Allan!

We stayed past closing, then had a quick bite before our night tour with Jeremy – an entirely different experience from the daytime tour. It too was crowded so I wondered whether we'd even spot anything, but we did find scorpions, whip spiders, a sleeping red-eyed tree frog, a sleeping keel-billed toucan, and several anoles and tarantulas. 

Tarantula

 

Scorpion

Whip spider

Tarantulas and 

scorpions and 

whip spiders, oh my!

Plus, we saw several snakes. I was proud of myself when I spotted a yellow broadheaded tree snake on a bush by the side of the path. We saw a second, much larger broadheaded tree snake in the branches overhead. 

So pretty!

One of the more exciting sightings of the night was a large fer-de-lance, curled at the base of a tree. The fer-de-lance is a common and widespread venomous pit viper species known for its aggressive behavior and potent venom. It is highly toxic and can cause severe pain, swelling, and tissue damage in humans, and in some cases, it can be fatal. 

Since it is so hard to spot, the fer-de-lance is
one of the more dangerous snakes in Costa Rica

Like all pit vipers, its heat-sensing pits and keen eyesight make the fer-de-lance an efficient ambush predator that feeds on small mammals, birds, and other snakes. It is primarily nocturnal and hunts by waiting in a concealed position and striking its prey when it comes within range. In the wild, the fer-de-lance is an important predator and a valuable part of the forest ecosystem, but in areas where human populations are high, it can pose a significant threat to human health and safety.

APRIL 4

The next day began with an early morning meet-up with Allan, who knew how excited I was to get a clear view of a potoo. He knew of a better spot in the local community, outside the National Park, where we'd be able to see one up close.

It's just a plain ol' tree stump... nothing else to see here!

So we drove through the local town to a spot right by the road, where we had an incredible view of a bird with its baby. Potoos are nocturnal birds that spend the day camouflaged – they sit on dead tree stumps and stand perfectly still, blending right in as though they are extensions of the trunk. They are also funny looking birds, with huge eyes and a wide, gaping mouth. They lay a single egg on the end of a tree stump, then roost and hatch the egg while trying to blend in. 

I think it does a pretty good job!

Afterward, we had breakfast with Allan before setting off for Sierpe, our jumping off point for the Osa Peninsula – the main reason why we chose Costa Rica for our trip.

Costa Rica - Monteverde

Having seen several different types of rainforests, Anil and I decided to head to Costa Rica for this year’s Spring Break so that we could see more. I’ve been here a couple times, but my trips to CR rainforests have been quick visits and I wanted the chance to spend quality time here. We decided to focus on Corcovado (on the recommendation from several people), but I also wanted to see Allan, a guide at Manuel Antonio who did the Earthwatch Sea Turtle fellowship with me several years ago. And our timing also allowed for a few extra days in the cloudforest, so that’s where we started our trip. 

We met first in Mexico City and flew together into San Jose. After picking up our rental car, we immediately headed out of the city. On first impression, San Jose is a big city (complete with the accompanying traffic) but it feels like the suburbs (with small, narrow streets and very few stoplights). It took over an hour just to get out of the city, and we were often stuck behind slow-moving trucks and school busses that belched out noxious clouds of black smoke. 

We were headed further north, where Anil had booked us at a sustainable ecolodge up in the San Luis Valley. We had 3 days here, at a great jumping off point to Monteverde and the surrounding mountains. 

Monteverde is a unique ecosystem known as a cloudforest – a tropical forest with covered in mist and cloud, giving it a constant high level of moisture. This level of moisture also means that cloudforests have a ton of epiphytes. Cloudforests are unique because their high levels of biodiversity and endemism. Monteverde has over 2,500 plant species, including 420 types of orchids! 

The rough roads to Monteverde

Getting to the Rancho de Lelo ecolodge was an adventure itself – directions were difficult to follow and the roads are unpaved and VERY rough. After a slight detour, we finally made it at 6PM (so grateful to have found it during daylight, as we would never have found it in the dark!) 

The best tilapia we've ever had - YUM!

The lodge is a small family-run affair, and they were so nice and accommodating. We had dinner of the most delicious fresh fried tilapia, then since neither of us slept much on the plane, we went to bed early. 

SATURDAY, APRIL 1 

The next morning we had breakfast at the lodge (a delicious gallo pinto and fried eggs), then drove up another bumpy road to Santa Elena. Since we hadn’t made any reservations, we stopped at a coffee plantation but couldn’t get a tour, so we went into town for a quick coffee (and to the grocery store for random snacks and water), then drove up to the Sky Tour for lunch before our bridge tour. 

Around Monteverde, there are several of these sky bridges that allow visitors to walk up above the tree canopies. The tour we took had 6 different bridges, with views of the treetops and a great birds-eye view of the cloudforest. And a much closer look at the epiphytes and other flora and fauna that live in and above the canopy. Because the clouds were rolling in, we couldn’t actually see that far, but it was still cool getting a different perspective of the rainforest. 

Lesser Violetear, in an Inga tree

On one bridge, we were up close to a flowering Inga tree that attracted several different species of hummingbirds, so we spend some time taking photos and enjoying the view. An interesting fact about the Inga - new leaves are actually brown, to resemble a dead tree, to fool predators.

How cool is this golden jewel scarab?! SO COOL!

That evening, we took a night tour with Joseph, the son-in-law of Rancho de Lelo’s owner. There were lots of other groups in the fairly small area, yet we saw so many interesting animals – which our guide explained are attracted to the reserve because the owners plant fruit trees nearby which attracting the wildlife. 

I spy with my little eye...
a walking stick! Do you? 

We saw a rather large anole, an orange kneed tarantula, several sleeping hummingbirds and a hummingbird nest (complete with baby hummingbirds), a toucan, and two of the coolest insects – a gold jewel scarab beetle and a walking stick that was perfectly camouflaged to look like lichen. 

Side-striped Palm Pit Viper

We also spotted two different snakes – a Side-striped Palm Pitviper and an Eyelash Palm Pitviper. They are called pit vipers because of their heat-sensing pits, which are located between their nostrils and eyes. These pits allow the snakes to detect the body heat of their prey, making them highly effective hunters. The venom of pit vipers is also highly potent and can cause serious injury or death in humans. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 2

Woke early and headed up to another private reserve, Curi Cancha, to get a tour with Joseph. This reserve, near Monteverde, has a combination of primary and secondary forest along with pastureland, so according to Joseph, it is easier to spot wildlife. And there was also a high likelihood that we’d see the elusive resplendent quetzal, which was high on my wishlist, so I was happy to go. 

Coppery-headed Emerald

Right at the start of the hike, we stopped to watch hummingbirds that were feeding off the purple flowers that had been planted at the reserve entrance. Costa Rica has over 50 species of colibris, or hummingbirds, and the Monteverde area is home to around 14 of them. It was fun to watch them buzz around, but so hard to photograph since they dart around so quickly and rarely stop to perch. 

Central American Agouti

Soon into our hike, we peered into the hollow of a fallen tree and saw a sleeping orange-kneed tarantula. We also spotted two agoutis foraging on the hillside that conveniently came down across our path so that we could get a better look. But the majority of wildlife were birds, and we were able to spot several different varieties. 

Keel-billed Toucan

We saw two toucans in the distance (which we got a good look at through the spotting scope), as well as crested guan (turkey-like birds) and golden-browed chlorophonia (both of which shared an avocado tree). 

Blue-crowned motmot, with its
pendulum-like tail feather

We also saw a blue-crowned motmot (with his twin bell-shaped tail feathers), a slate-throated redstart (with a crown of red on top of his head), several violet sabrewings (the largest colibri in Costa Rica), purple-throated mountaingem (another vibrant hummingbird) and a yellow throated Euphonia in a hanging nest. 

Most importantly (and most excitedly!!), we got to see both the male and female Resplendent Quetzal. This distinctive bird has cultural significance to many indigenous cultures, where it is revered as a symbol of beauty, freedom, and power. 

Female Resplendent Quetzal

Male Resplendent Quetzal

The quetzal is a vibrant, spectacular looking bird that truly lives up to its name - resplendent. It has iridescent bright green feathers on its back and head (which also sports a mohawk-like crest), with a rich red breast, and white highlights. The males grow long wispy tail feathers that can reach up to three feet in length which they use to attract females. The male that we spotted was partially hidden behind some trees, but his twin tail feathers were easy to see (since they were almost three feet long and fluttering in the wind!) The female, which lacked the red highlights and long tailfeathers, was much easier to spot. It was a good time to see them since it was nesting season, and their favorite food is the wild avocado so they were in the same tree as the guan and the chlorophonia. Such a thrill to see them! 

Since we had a few hours before we were going to be picked up for dinner, we decided to go into Santa Elena and hang out for a while. We went back to the same coffeehouse as the day before, then got a lunch of traditional Costa Rican food. As always, it was delicious (and I slightly regretted it since I was so full, and we had a big dinner ahead!) 

Our table, in our private glass box

The day before, Anil had seen a sign for the San Luis treetop dining experience, and since the ecolodge was closed for dinner that night, we decided to try it out. It turns out, this was truly a unique fine dining experience. We were up on the hillside in our own little glass cabin, with a great view of the town below us and the Pacific Ocean in the distance. We got reservations for 5PM, which meant we also got a lovely view of the sunset! And dinner was a “tour of Costa Rica” – a fun culinary experience!

A lovely sunset overlooking Santa Elena