A second visit to Central America and to the highly revered country of Costa Rica celebrated for its rich biodiversity and progressive leanings toward carbon neutral status. Having previously visited Belize, I was really looking forward to this trip having already experienced in some small part the extraordinary breadth of flora and fauna there. It would also make a change from thrashing round arable fields in Essex for a couple of weeks.
The country is vibrant with colour and life, a culture based on the philosophy of 'Pura Vida' (pure life). The people here are extremely hospitable in most part. This was particularly the case within the interior of the country.
Travel to San Jose is simple. Jump on at Gatwick and British Airways will take you straight there. A couple of movies and a couple of meals and the whole 11 hours is over in a twinkle.
New Years eve was hilarious. Having arrived feeling a little weary after the journey, there was much anticipation in arriving to the capital city to join the fiesta and see the new year in. The place was souless - quite literally - there was no one around. The hostel itself was sparsely occupied with guests and at midnight I vaguely recall hearing the distant popping of fireworks. A slightly anticlimactic way to bring in the new decade.
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| Blue-crowned (Lesson's) Motmot |
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Variegated Squirrel
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Forget all that though. It was back to the airport to pickup the hire car and off to the famous cloud forest at Monteverde.
The journey was gratefully uneventful. The roads were in good condition and the traffic generally flowed at an agreeable rate.
Lunch was taken en route near to Mata de Limon where route 27 joins route 23 adjacent to the Gulf of Nicoya on the Pacific side. The seating area overlooked a tidal lagoon where Magnificent Frigatebird soared over the muddy pools and Brown Pelican flew in formation toward the sea.
White Ibis,
Willet,
Franklin's Gull and
Tree Swallow were present in good numbers on and around exposed mud and pools.
The journey continued onto Santa Elena winding up the mountan facade arriving finally at Claro de Luna for a 4 night stay.
Santa Elena is a great town to explore and use as a base for the cloud forest experience.
Monteverde Cloud Forest reserve was first up. There are plenty of trails to navigate that traverse through the forest meandering up to a viewpoint overlooking the Continental Divide where waterflow is dispersed equally between the Pacific and Atlantic sides. The views are spectacular.
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| The famous hanging bridge in the Monteverde Cloud Forest |
The forest is dense, the lush green foliage damp from the constant fall of vapour from the passing clouds.
Wildlife was surprisingly difficult to find and there was very little seen while navigating the defined paths. A gorgeous little female
Purple-throated Mountain Gem sat alone on the bend of the path with this male seen a short while later. There were plenty of
Costa Rican Warbler hidden in the undergrowth.
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| Purple-throated Mountain Gem (male) |
A small clearing in the woodland held probably the most activity we saw all day with a few bird species darting through including this Slaty-backed Nightingale Thrush and a Smoky-brown Woodpecker.
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| Slaty-backed Nightingale Thrush |
It wasn't until later and quite fortuitously we were alerted to this. A male
Resplendent Quetzal perched up in the canopy with enough gap within the treeline to get a decent look at this iconic and regionally celebrated species.
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| Resplendent Quetzal |
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| Collared Whitestart |
The sinewy appearance of the Ficus Tree are a common sight within the rainforest, a species that strangles its host tree growing high and appearing very sinister. Had no idea the arboreal world could be so brutal.
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| Owl Butterfly |
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| Wall art in Santa Elena |
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