Wildlife and more

Arriving late at night we have one night in town, found a hotel that says it has lots of birds – not that we could look at night as we did not get there till around midnight.  First thing in the morning lots of birds, an owl nest, plus lots of other birds.

Also good conversation with other birders.  Great birds so a good start.

The Costa Rican people are just lovely, friendly and helpful.  The wildlife and birds are amazing and the scenery fantastic.

Food is not what we really like quite bland and boring. Ok if you like rice and beans, cheese with everything or deep fried food.  

Before continuing I should say that this blog is far more pictures than writing – they tell their own story about this country.  The Gallery of course has many many more interesting pictures.

Steve is much happier driving here as although there are still few road rules followed most drive slowly and carefully – a big difference to prior places.  BUT it is hard to do long drives as I do not think there is a straight road anywhere, very hilly and windy. Plus to add to the fun deep drainage ditches on side of very narrow roads, not good with Trucks and busses coming other way.

Staying at a BNB outside La Fortuna – the best pick as there was a huge variety of birds like the male and female Heron’s below carrying out their mating ritual.

Lots of small birds too, these woodpeckers were enjoying the coconut tree.

There were also sloths on the property. 

It was a lovely cabin and private too.

A night walk at the hanging bridges was interesting with many frogs and a couple of snakes, it was a bit short as guide seemed to be in a hurry which was a shame as could have spent a bit more time to get better photographs.

Arenal Observatory was amazing, great views of the volcano although we did not manage to catch it with no clouds at all.

Spent nearly all day here when expecting to only stay a couple of hours.  The birds here are incredible. 

Great walks through the forest with incredible vegetation and our second wildlife sighting of White Nosed Coati.

Next to Tenorio Volcano area, unfortunately no sighting/view of the volcano due to low clouds but we had a great walk / climb in the National Park – or at least I did, Steve piked out half way as it was very steep, slippery and rough. (balancing with his big lens was a bit tricky).  Half way along there is a very steep down to a beautiful waterfall. The pic below shows about 1/3rd of the path down.

The rest of the walk weaved through the forest and past varying blue holes and rivers.  Just beautiful.

Went to Tapir Valley Nature reserve hoping to see Tapir, not holding our breath as not guaranteed and almost only in the dark. Within 20 minutes of arriving guide gets call from owner, bingo large male Tapir (making funny faces) in the open in daylight, we were very lucky!

We then continued on night walk lots of bugs and frogs. Loved the guy below, so cute and colourful.

We found a bird garden in the area but when we got their it was all fenced off, luckily as we were leaving a guide and guest turned up and let us in – it was great for humming birds.

Off to Cano Negro (RAMSAR site) and Medio Queso which should be one.  2 very different wetland habitats close to each other but completely different.  Amazing scenery from boats, so peaceful and great birds too.Cano Negro scenery below and a couple of birds found here.

 Ducks in the early misty morning.

Medio Queso scenery above and below a couple of birds from this area.

This little Crake was hard to spot and photograph, best we could do.

The ferry at Medio queso was interesting, very basic just a wheel and hand crank.

More birding at La Selva plus a wildlife sighting of Agouti which was something I had not heard of but was quite cute.

The next place was not too far so we looked for somewhere to go on the way.  Finding a place that said it was a nature park we followed google but had to drive up and down a dirt road twice before someone stopped us and asked if we were looking for their place.  It is actually someone’s property that they have set up as a nature reserve with a bird hide.  Initially they said we could not go in as they had other guests coming and we should have booked.  Then they relented and allowed us to sit in hide but said not the rest of the tour in forest – but in the end they let us do that too. Incredible place and person, such an amazing job and his knowledge of finding things in the forest was great.

He showed us hummingbird nests that we would have walked by,

as for finding the tiny bats which were in a folded banana leaf, incredible.

One day for Rancho Naturalista as this is the premier birding spot, met some lovely people and had a great day. Brilliant guided walk around with other couple from Kent saw lots of new birds and great vegetation.

Moved on to another airbnb for a trip to Copal Reserve – we had booked a guide for this as apparently not possible to do alone.  On our way to the bnb he rang and cancelled as had a family emergency. 

Lucky it was a lovely BNB with lots of birds, this one is my favourite colour.

Decided instead to visit the volcanoes.  The one below is the 2nd highest Turrialba, taken from the highest.  This one is often smoking   – but not today.

Lovely day up above the clouds at Mount Irazu (3452 metres,11325.46ft above sea level) being clever and didn’t feel hot at first no hats, both sunburnt – Oops, you would think we would know better.

On the way down we had to drive for around an hour in really thick mist, you could see almost nothing and then due to slowness it got dark.  Not the most relaxing drive.

Hotel Quelitales was our next stop for their amazing birds and trails- unfortunately the cloud was down for the majority of the time – and the rest it rained. So heavily that the 2.5km hike in the forest was closed as too steep and slippery. Still the scenery was lovely and we did find a few birds in the brief gaps.

On to San Gerardo de Dota to try and find the Resplendent Quetzal.  Our cabin is lovely but cold at night (2433 mtres) and all the walks were incredibly steep. 

With the altitude and the steepness even 400 metres up was a slow struggle, and the 4km trail took a long time on the way back up.

We were also very lucky to see a pair of Quetzals who just happened to fly across while we were walking, unfortunately the tree they landed in was not in good light or a good angle.

Nearby our BNB was a cafe known for it’s feeders and birds.  So much fun watching the many hummingbirds fighting and flitting around,

along with of course many other birds like the one below – love his colours.

Lastly to the coast for a few days of not much – we thought.

One morning at 7am down to Marino Ballena National Park, 10 minute walk to entrance and a couple of km’s along the beach to the whale tail spit. 

We struggled badly on the way back, such a short walk for us but so very humid we were drenched and exhausted.  All we wanted was a shower – not to be, no water, apparently in all of Uvita town.  Swim instead. 
Mid Day – still no water, went to fill our water bottles from hotel drinking water supply – no water there either.  Reception “Go and buy some at supermarket” rudely.
Bed time 10pm, still wanting shower and it would be nice to flush toilet but still no water.

Off to Panama tomorrow, interesting way to finish our last day.

Don’t forget to check out the gallery – so many more photos, from Scenery, Fungi, Snakes, and everything wild (some maybe not around for much longer unfortunately, so many becoming short on numbers due to climate change and deforestation).