Hi there. I thought, having just joined ZooChat, it would be a good idea to upload a trip report about a school trip visit to Costa Rica during August 2009. The journey itself wasn't too bad, leaving from Heathrow Airport, transferring in Mexico City and then onto San Jose. What really wasn't all that good however, was all the procedures in Mexico City at the time because, luck would have it, there was a little bit of swine flu in the area. And the procedures mentioned, just involved queuing, for over an hour, in an overheated, understaffed ticket office. After that, it wasn't so bad and the views of Mexico City when flying at night at just extraordinary. Finally, after having a seemingly forty eight hour day, we touched down in San Jose, went to the hotel and managed to finally get some sleep. On the first day, we headed on up to the summit of the Irazu Volcano, which is about an hours drive down the Central Valley from San Jose. At the very top of the volcano, it was very cold, very wet and there was very little in terms of long-distance visibility. Nonetheless, it was still amazing, with the volcano and its bright green lake, the great forests of giant gunnera and some smatterings of wildlife (rufous-collared sparrows and a rufous-tailed hummingbird), as well as our first and only orchid and a group of white-nosed coati that came down to the car park and offered some stunning photo opportunities. On the way back into San Jose, I got my first and only glimpse of wild parrots in Costa Rica, namely a trio of crimson-fronted parakeets. The next day, we headed off towards Fortuna, one of the larger towns in the region, ticking off birds that would eventually become common along the way (black vultures, great kiskadees, tropical mockingbirds and a handful of red-winged blackbirds), and we also stopped off at the Iguana Bridge, a famous place where some of the biggest and most active green iguanas I have ever seen were, waddling quite umperterbed between the stalls of a roadside bar. Also down at the Iguana Bridge there was a lone male mantled howler monkey living in someone's back garden. I personally suspect it was being kept as a pet. After arriving in Fortuna, we made our way to the Baldi Hot Springs. The nearby area was surprisingly good for wildlife, and on the journey there I managed to spot and tick off some really nice birds, including a white hawk, a violaceous trogon and red-billed pigeons. The hotel provided a good glimpse of a house gecko, and Fortuna itself played host to a stray dog that, for some bizarre reason, several people named Google, and followed us everywhere. At the Hot Springs itself there was not much in the way of bird life, but there was another male coati and some nice invertebrates too, including an absolutely enormous katydid at the dining area. The next day, we were due to spend the morning kayaking on a river (I still don't know which river) and the evening visiting the Arenal Lake. So, firstly to the river. At first, it was all great fun, and then we capsised. Which is far less funny when it happens to you. In this incident, I lost both my flip-flops, a paddle and our two-person kayak. So, while standing waist-deep in a river hidden amongst the plants for a good quarter of an hour or so, I tried to keep myself occupied, and succeeded in seeing some more new animals, namely leaf-cutting ants and a common rain frog. From the kayak itself, we managed to spot black vultures, swallow-tailed kites, emerald basilisks, green iguanas, mantled howler monkeys, a Hoffman's two-toed sloth, Amazon kingfishers and a total of three American crocodiles- one of which was just around the corner from where I was standing up to my waist. But aparrently, these crocs were friendly. That was later proved wrong by us again, when we accidentally got too close to another basking crocodile, and it jumped into the water, looking at us and most certainly wondering which end to begin eating first. And let me tell you, nothing gets you paddling quickly like a two metre crocodile. In the evening, the Lake Arenal was almost deserted, and for good reason. The volcano, that we and all other visitors to the country had come to see, was obscured completely by clouds. Still, it was good to tick off yet more new birds, including mangrove swallows, great egrets and a pied-billed grebe, said to be an extremely uncommon bird in Costa Rica, to the extent that the guide said he had never seen one before, and could not identify it. We then left Fortuna, and went on the arduous expedition onwards to the Monteverde Cloud Forest. The drive was long and uneventful, apart from a stop-off at a service station where I managed to see my first and only tarantula of the trip. When we finally arrived at the mountainous area, I realised one thing that none of the travel guides seemed to mention. Monteverde itself, is about forty miles down a single lane road, with a sheer drop down one edge, and no safety barriers. Add to that that a village about halfway through the journey was having a festival, so everyone had parked their cars conveniently in the middle of the street, meant that by the time we arrived, it was already pretty late. Nonetheless, we still went out to a part of the reserve later, and despite our best efforts in the jungle, left with only a handful of bird species, namely common bush-tanagers, several species of hummingbird at the hummingbird feeders, an absolutely stunning black-faced solitaire that more than made up for the lack of other birds and, on the way back, a pair of blue-crowned motmots. After the meal at the 'hotel' (our room was a bit too spidery for my liking) there were Northern raccoons outside all the rooms, and we soon discovered the crack in the bathroom window that meant all the small spiders could gain complete access to our entire room. Just to clarify, I didn't sleep awfully well that night. Next morning, the hotel proved that there were more to just spiders and raccoons in the grounds, when we had views of Montezuma oropendola, keel-billed toucan and cane toad. I also found a leaflet in our room advertising a night safari, and wished I had known earlier, in the minor hope I could have spent less time in the room. After breakfast, we again packed up and went off to another part of Monteverde, this time with canopy walks. But when we arrived, our hopes of a good days wildlife watching were dashed when we found the entire area had come under the influence of unseasonal fog. Rather than a trip bursting with emerald toucanets, umbrellabirds, three-wattled bellbirds and resplendent quetzals (which, I later found out, were unlikely to be in the area anyway), all we were rewarded to were a couple of slate-throated redstarts, a millipede and two hairy caterpillars. Then, everyone on the trip (bar me and one other person) went off zip-lining. Rather than sitting about and doing nothing for an long period of time, we paid for a tour of the Monteverde Serpentarium. It was essentially quite basic, but had a nice, well presented collection, bar one habitat that apparently the snake had escaped from . Following on from this, we had a brief encounter with a gigantic atlas moth in the visitor centre, and then headed back to the hotel again. Following on from another pitiable night, where apparently our guide found a scorpion in his bedroom (lucky him ) we headed on down to the Pacific Coast, and specifically on to Manuel Antonio. On the way there however, we stopped at at Jungle Crocodile Safari at the Rio Tarcoles. This was perhaps the highlight of the trip, with amazing encounters with several different species. The main focus were of course, the gigantic American crocodiles that make the river famous. And when I say they are gigantic, I truly mean it. The largest, named Osama (the beast in my avatar), weighed 15,000 Ib, and seemed to almost enjoy being stroked by the guy doing the feeding. I'd say we saw a total of about ten crocodiles, ranging in size from the giant Osama, to the other end of the scale, and the opposite side of the boat, a tiny baby crocodile no longer than thirty centimetres. As well as crocodiles, we also saw black ctenosaurs, brown basilisks and a huge diversity of birds such as wood storks, boatbill herons, roseate spoonbills, great egrets, both yellow-headed and crested caracaras and bare-throated tiger-herons, among others. W had lunch overlooking the river, and then continued onwards to Manuel Antonio. Almost the instant we arrived, and a Hoffman's two-toed sloth was there in the trees around the hotel grounds. After a late night at the bar , we retired to our rooms and slept like logs. The following day, we were due to have a relaxing day at Manuel Antonio National Park, chilling out on the beach and seeing a diverse range of wildlife. Didn't happen. Instead it rained, non-stop, for perhaps seven hours. On the walking trail down to the beach, we saw white-headed capuchin monkeys (that thankfully stayed clear of my stuff), magnificent frigatebirds that really live up to their names and brown-throated three-toed sloths (one asleep in a tree, and the other taking a dump on the floor, and attracting quite a crowd). The beach was fun, but less fun was returning to find your jungle-trekking walking boots have disintergrated and filled up with water to form small ponds. We then quickly decided to return to the hotel and sit out the rest of the day. But there was, yet again, a slight problem. The short route back we were due to take, had flooded considerably, to form a knee-deep river with a slow flow to it. Nothing to it, normally, but of course, I wasn't wearing shoes, so that kind of ruined my crossing attempt. Back home, I later found out that this area usually floods daily, and allows access to the area for some large, man-eating crocodiles. Back at the hotel, as we were drying out and the rain just stopping, the local wildlife seemed even more willing to come out. I managed to spot a brightly coloured bush cockroach, a nest of absolutely miniscule wasps, more white-headed capuchins, both Cherrie's and blue-grey tanagers and even, for a brief instant, a small group of Central American squirrel monkeys. At the pool in the evening, black myotis bats and Seba's fruit bats flew overhead, and giant rhinoceros beetles decided to invade our room. Yet again, I slept well that night. The next morning, we had decided to head down to another nearby beach, to at least get some good beach weather. And the signs were good as well. The sun was out sufficiently for a Neotropical green anole to emerge and bask, and as we headed down the steep slope towards a private beach, we managed to spot Central American agoutis, tons of moon crabs and a whole plethora of land hermit crabs. After one of the friendly hotel attendants got me a coconut, we decided to head down to the sea for a bit. Again, a big mistake on my part. Unseasonal weather meant the seas were extraudinarily rough, and after ten minutes, I had almost drowned twice. So that put me off going swimming for a while. Later in the afternoon, we headed back to San Jose, ready for our final full day tomorrow. On the final full day, we headed off to one of the whitewater rafting rivers (possibly Rio Toro, or maybe the Sarapiqui) and managed to catch breakfast at the changing centre. While we were there, some of the smaller exotic fauna arrived. A ground anole and strawberry poison-dart frogs were the highlight for me, but I almost physically choked on my own disbelief after several other members of the group spotted a caecilian along the pathway to the changing room. Following getting changed and having breakfast, we headed down the slope in a half-hour tractor/trailer ride to the river. On the way down, we saw our only wild snake of the trip, a stunning green-headed racer snake that disappeared as soon as it spotted us. When we finally arrived at the river, it was of course, absolutely terrifying. The entire journey was probably over two hours, but I lost track of the time. After the first ten minutes, you are having so much fun that you forget to be scared, until we had to pull over because I sort of broke my paddle against a rock. Nonetheless, wildlife still showed, including blue morpho butterflies, neotropical cormorants and, just as we approached the most dangerous rapid (Class 4), the disconcerting appearence of the black and turkey vultures circling overhead. Couple that with hearing calling collared aracaris and seeing chestnut-headed oropendola nests, and it was a pretty good trip. On the final day, of course everything went wrong. I overslept, had literally two minutes to pack and then race to the airport, where we just about caught our plane. Then, following this there was an eight hour wait in Mexico City airport, which didn't have a restaurant and the only drinks for sale looked like something made of a mixture of vinegar and cocaine. Surprisingly though, it didn't taste too bad. Then following this, it was another long flight back to the UK, but this time I was coveniently seated next to the Mexican lady who seemed to take quite a shine to me. And that's it. Eleven days, lots of bumps and scrapes but plenty to warrant going back for. Personally, I hope that when (not if, when) I do return, the weather will be in my favour and I will also try to visit other areas such as Corcovado and possibly even Cocos Island, to try and see both animals I didn't see well on this visit (three-toed sloths, emerald basilisks, squirrel monkeys) and ones completely new (Baird's tapir, bull shark, spider monkey, tamandua, and possibly jaguar). If anyone wants a species list, just ask and I will dig out all the information I have.
I just stumbled across this review. Top stuff. Looks like you guys had lots of fun. Did you visit any zoos?
