Just 90 minutes driving and we are in another world! We passed through the central farming belt, including many, many Pineapple farms. It always amazes me how pineapples grow!
Then the cultivated land ended and we were back in the rainforest. We had arrived in Sarapiqui, an area of Costa Rica that is as yet barely touched by tourism. We wanted to experience old Costa Rica, but that involved giving up on a few creature comforts! Our first night was spent at La Selva Biological research station, set deep in the Rainforest, and a renowned centre for researching habitat and it's species.
A few guests share the facility with researchers and students. A stay involves fairly basic accommodation... but we didn't have to share...other than with geckos and bats!
However the price includes 2 or 3 meals in the canteen, a 3 - 4 hour guided walk, and the chance to opt in to other walks, and share the wonderful environment and trails. Chris and I arrived at lunchtime, had a meal and then chose to explore a 2 hour trail recommended by one of the staff. We didn't realise how deep into the jungle it went! And this is serious jungle. We had been warned about the very dangerous Fer de Lance snakes which had been seen a lot, and Bullet ants. One inch long, with fierce mandibles, and which can bite and sting at the same time. Said to be one of the most painful things you can experience, and the pain lasts 15 hours, spreading to other parts of your body!
But more worrying than all that was the fact that we had to cross a hanging bridge over a fairly large river to get to the trails! An even more wobbly one! What am I doing here?! Anyway, we continued! I got across the bridge and we headed into Primary rainforest. At first the paths were good, and we saw these huge millipedes ( about 7 inches long) having a good time in a log, and a very impressive spiny iguana.
Then the path became narrower, and was occasionally blocked in places by fallen trees, which necessitated going off piste into the undergrowth, which wasn't recommended! We persevered, and were rewarded with some special sightings. Firstly, we saw a Howler monkey mother carrying her baby go rushing through the trees along side us. Next, the males, higher up, started their eerie howling, and crashing through the treetops quite close by. Then some birds. A crested Guan, and then a pretty rare Great Curassow. He was about turkey size and just strolled in front of us. Finally a tiny flash of green jumped across the path. It was a green and black poison dart tree frog. It hopped under a rotten trunk, and I wasn't going to get too close, so excuse the picture quality!
It was very exciting. We headed back, very hot and sticky in about 31°C, 85°F and 98% humidity. After supper, we had booked onto a Night walk with a guide. 10 of us set off with torches, and we had to cross the wobbly wobbly bridge. In darkness. I foolishly thought it might be easier if I couldn't see down! Wrong! Very wrong! It was doubly scary...AND the guide told us not to touch the handrail in case of bullet ants! Aaaagh. Again, it is chance whether you find much. We saw several species of frog and toad, and various impressive beetles and Katydids; but sadly only a glimpse of the Costa Rican speciality, the tiny blue jeans poison dart frog, which wouldn't photograph! There were some rabbits though!
This Wolf spider was waiting for passing prey, and we got an amazing view of this very well camouflaged ....nightjar. It is fun to see birds asleep high up in the trees. Just an immobile ball of feathers on a branch! How do they not fall off?!
And the next question... would we (I) get a wink of sleep in our wooden cabin with it's iffy mesh vents over the bathroom windows and holes between the timbers? We put the light out and listened. We could hear geckos in the room, and probably bats. Outside were cicadas, occasional bird sounds and howler monkeys. It took me a while, but I did eventually sleep, and all was well. No insect invasions that we could see anyway. Over to the canteen for a nice breakfast and then our last tour, this time with Antonio. He was excellent. We were out on the trails for over 4 hours, and were melting by the end, but he spotted so many things, and made every insect, plant and bird interesting.
The paths were concrete, laid many years ago, and had a permanent deep pile carpet of moss! Our 2 favourite things were firstly these gorgeous River Otters under my bridge... so I had to stop and watch them playing and fishing around the log.
Secondly, these tiny tent making bats that were hidden in a large curled up leaf. The bats work together to bite and then bend the ribs of the leaf round and hold them together to make a tent. Incredible.
Although the accommodation was basic, the accomodation, wildlife and guides more than made up for that. After 4 hours we just had time to finishing packing before a taxi arrived to take us to our next stop, just 20 minutes down the road, called the Yatama Lodge. We were dropped in a small village outside the little supermercado. We were instantly adopted by a small dog, and some local people asked us where we were going! A rain shower started suddenly, and this girl on her bike had the perfect solution. This man on his motorbike demonstrated how to use a helmet! Ride with your baseball cap on, and carry the helmet!
Then our next host, Pedro arrived with his 4x4 to transport us, and another English couple up into the mountains. 45 minutes up an incredibly rough and bouncy 4 wheel drive only track,complete with river to cross, to the home he created 25 years ago, in the middle of nature.
Bordering the Braullio Carillo National Park, he reforested acres of land which had been previously cleared, creating a wonderful, vast area of secondary Rainforest. We stayed in individual 2 storey cabins on stilts, set well apart from one another, and reached on raised boardwalks.
Our cabin had a downstairs bedroom and bathroom, and an upstairs sitting area and balcony looking out into the forest canopy. Some lovely artwork on the bathroom door too! The cabins were rustic, with some slightly alarmingly large gaps in the floor and door timbers, but so peaceful, surrounded with the noises of the Rainforest. Perfect for an afternoon snooze!
Our walks here were much more strenuous than others we had done, being on hilly, rough and muddy paths. We were provided with Wellington boots and sticks, which were a boon in the deep mud, but also for protection against the dreaded bullet ants, and the potentially deadly Fer de Lance snake, although our guide today said they can sense warmth, and do not sense the boot, so they strike up at the warm part above the boot!! Not what we wanted to hear! Our first walk was at night. No Fer de Lance snakes, but we did see this metre long snake asleep in a tree by the path!
The bullet ants were much in evidence, as were the amazing leaf cutter ants, so it didn't pay to stand still for long! If you saw a leaf cutter ant apparently giving a lift to a smaller ant, riding on it's leaf, what you are seeing is one of the quality control ants checking the leaf for parasites before it is allowed to be taken underground. There the leaves are stacked, and they produce a fungus which the ants feed on. Large colonies can contain over a billion ants! Here they are bring leaves down from a very tall tree.
It was lovely to walk in the forest, and there were some pretty streams. They didn't yield much in the way of new birds and animals, but the night walk did finally give us our sightings of some of the incredible little frogs. The tiny tadpole is in a hole in a bamboo stem where the frogs breed.
The frogs come in such a range of colours. Some are tinier than a finger nail. Some are highly poisonous dart frogs This is the famous Red eyed Tree Frog
this was a Chestnut frog that looks purple
and, finally one I really wanted to see, the stunning blue jeans frog, barely an inch long!
We also learned about some more of the incredible adaptations some of the nature has. This butterfly has transparent wings so it is less easily seen by predators.
This is not a dead leaf, but a fungus mimicking one!
And some plants and trees grow vicious spines on their trunks to prevent predators eating their new growth.
At Yatama Lodge there was a lovely terrace by a pond, and each day, bananas were hung up by a tree trunk. This attracted some very striking birds. At one time, there were 30 Montezumas Oropendola birds there, which are very dramatic birds.
Watching them vie for whose turn it was next was fascinating. There were never more than 3 on the bananas. This poor fellow was always sent to the back of the queue.
At first we thought he was the same species, but with no beak pigmentation, but then discovered he was a Chestnut headed Oropendula... so definitely not one of the family! Also present were these rather evil looking Aracaras... it made me think of the three witches in Macbeth.
I sat for ages by this pond, and also saw a male and female Curassow, and a ...water rail. Although the smallest bird, he could frighten away any of the others by racing along the bank hissing! He also amused us by chasing tadpoles in the pond. Finally, this Coati came and had a light snack!
He cleared the tree!
Everyone eats together here, and we met some really interesting people, including a family from Switzerland with their young children, a couple from the Netherlands, and a lovely couple from Hertfordshire. Everyone had great stories to tell. It was amazing to meet the other people who have found this secret place!
But how would we sleep?
As it turned out, very well on the first night, despite the large gaps in the floor!
We didn't wake up until 7.40 so it was a sprint down to breakfast! Night 2 was different! The new, super chilled me had nodded off in the afternoon, so was wide awake at bedtime. Then, the night was punctuated by torrential rain, pounding on the metal roof. Next, the Howler monkeys started calling, and they were quite close. But it was wonderful to lay in bed listening to these sounds, plus the loud calls of the frogs, and a few loud mysterious calls that I couldn't identify. Best of all, it completely drowned out Chris' snoring! This was a very special place to stay, and definitely worth the effort to get there. Pedro and the staff were so friendly, and, once again, I totally surprised myself (and Chris) by becoming so relaxed! There was even a heart shaped leaf ready for Valentines day!
Our next, and last destination in Costa Rica, will be different again! We hope you will join us!
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