Birds, Butterflies and Coffee of Costa Rica..... and those Potholes !

[Chakra]

Wow!!! What an amazing trip you had!

I just got to read and enjoy it now, and I'm speechless - monkeys, tapir, birds, sloths, snakes, butterflies and weird insects, you had it all. Congrats! And great photography too.

 

We're going to CR in about a week, but only for a week, so we will not see the diversity you were so lucky to experience. But 1 week in CR cannot compare to 1 week at work, plus we're escaping the cold winter for a few days. Hope to see quetzals this time

We're going in Turialba and San Gerardo de Dota areas - do you think we have any chance to see a wattled bird?

@@xyz99 : thanks very much for your kind words. Lucky you !! Even one week in Costa Rica will be very very rewarding. I'm no expert but IMHO it is unlikely you'll come across a three wattled bell-bird ouside Monteverde Cloud forest.

Well, that's a reason to return again !

[xyz99]

Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait then...but definitely want to get to Monteverde someday. Now I just have one more reason

[Chakra]

Well, our time inside Corcovado was coming to an end. On the third day the tiny plane was due to return at 11 am to take us back to P. Jimenez. But there was still time to have a look at the Tapir, so up again at 4 am and out by 5 am. It had rained heavily the night before so hiking was not easy. I could see that water had started to go over the trail in many areas. Nito knew the trail very well so he could still find it but in full rainy season it'll be impossible to follow the trail. We went to the nearest beach looking for the Tapir and although it did not come out we had another very unexpected sighting, albeit brief. The high tide had started to come and we scrambled up to higher ground. I saw Nito looking very intently and follwed his gaze. All of a sudden I saw those dreaded fins rising out of the water. The legendary bull shark, equally home at ocean and river. It did show us its fins a few more times although too unpredictable and fast to capture. It was very close to the high tide mark and I was standing there an hour back. Just glad that we were not planning to do any more river crossing that morning.

On the way back to the camp we were ambushed by a group of white-nosed coatis. A very big group : at least 25-30. I had previously commented on the loss of natural fear of animals in corcovado and this was a prime example. We stood still and they foraged all around us, some within touching distance. As usual the little ones were more keen on playing and mock fighting. Unfortunately for me it was a dense undergrowth area with little light filtering through so it was diffcult to freeze action shots.

My wife, the designated videographer in our family, did manage to take a reasonably good video in low light which will give you a better idea.

The video is here :

You may be wondering why I had not shared any photos of Senor Toucan. I had seen a couple of toucans but was not entirely happy with the sighting. Nito had told me that sometimes Toucans came and sat on the trees next to the campsite. Lo and behold, there were not one but two big chestnut mandibled toucans sitting there when we returned from the dawn hike. The toucan has to be the iconic bird of southern America, but what an odd looking bird.

BTW, one poor toucan who lost half his beak when held by poachers, is the only bird who had benefited from a prosthetic beak made by 3D printing !

These two were quite a posers and my wife once again whisked her camcorder out. I just loved the way the Toucans moved their long necks to survey us. They are actually quite a predatory bird and eat up lots of smaller birds !

Some photos and the obligatory video !!

We were ready to leave now, but Nito still had a surprise. As it had rained quite heavily the night before he felt it was worth looking for the poison frogs once again and off we went. The trail was not easy to navigate and Nito had to hekp me out on several occasions. At last we could hear some noise but still it took Nito at least ten minutes to locae a pair. Photography was practically impossible but wth help from others i managed to get one or two decent shots of the poison filled granules of these amazing little creatures.

I think I ticked most of the boxes I had in my mind. We missed the giant ant-eater by a few minutes and a mother puma was seen by a group couple of days back but she did not come out for us. Never mind, may be another time !

[Alexander33]

@@Chakra

 

What a fantastic experience you had in Corcovado. Fer-de-lance is definitely not to be toyed with, that's for sure. Giant anteater? I have to confess I had no idea they were found in Costa Rica --South America, yes, but what a special sighting that must have been for those who spotted it. Gives you a reason to return -- as if you need a reason at all!

 

Nice views of the toucans and poison dart frog. The coatis almost look like they are dancing! They are favorites of mine.

 

@@xyz99

 

Wonderful to hear you are going back to Costa Rica. Have a great trip. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Edited December 30, 2016 by Alexander33

[Chakra]

I really need help from you guys here. I was all packed up, ready to go, only the cameras outside, when one of the local guides came towards me and said, " Senor, Camera por favore". Before I could say anything he had grabbed my camera and started runnning towards the jungle. I did not understand why he wanted to steal my camera at the last minute but gave a chase. Then I heard Nito laughing and saying, " Don't worry. he just spotted a rare bird ! " Several other guides also quickly directed their scopes towards this tiny little bird. which flew away promptly, but not before the guide who borrowed my camera manged to take a few pics. Apparently it is a rare sighting and once again I failed to appreciate the hulla baloo. Nito did tell me the name but I had forgotten.

 

Any idea why so much excitement about this bird ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bye bye Corcovado and after a memorable 20 minutes we landed at P. Jim, waved Adois to Nito and went to Cabinas tropicales to pick up the car. Host Mark Corn graciously allowed us to have a nice hot shower and we were ready to move towards the tip of Osa : Cabo Matapalo.

But my wife had spotted a very nice craft shop just 2 minutes walk away. I told her clearly I was running short of US dollars and off she went to investigate and returned with a beaming smile saying, "They accept credit cards". The shop was named Jagua Arts and their Boruca mask collection was indeed spectacular and sadly I had to take out my credit card !

Girls were just delirious to find ice cream after 3 days without it ! The masks were very expensive and probably would have been cheaper if I had bought directly from the Boruca people but I did not have the time.

 

 

 

The road after leaving P. Jim was horrendous to say the least. There were 2 small river crossings which were child's play compared to the potholes I encountered on the side road to Matapalo. The turn had a big dip and a massive crater bang in the middle. I went a tad too fast and did not realise how deep the crater was and for a second the wheels on the left side were up in air. My heart was in my mind nut thankfully the car corrected itself and I promised never to underestimate a pothole.

Our next destination Toucan Terra guest house was literally at the end of the road. For 2 days we just recovered doing nothing, just strolling along the beach and the road . One day we decided to drive towards Karate and surprisingly the road was not that bad. We did not go all the way to karate as the drive was boring and went back towards P. Jim which was much more rewarding. Nito had told us about the red breasted blackbirds sitting on the roadside poles and after several attempts I did manage to capture a few. This particular road had plenty of birding opportunity.

I wonder whether I should have stayed at Bosque Del Cabo ? I was so tired that I did not feel like taking the car out to tackle those horrendous roads again. Within BDC perhaps I could have explored the trails by foot. But I think I had seen plenty of wildlife by then and we just wanted to soak in the pacific ocean and the deserted beaches.

Toucan Terra had one of the best gardens that I had come across and the intoxication scent from the Ylang Ylang tree soothed all my creaking aging bones.

Here are some photos of our accommodationa nd the surroudings.

 

 

I got out of my bed today to be greeted with grey fog and frosty roof tops. I had to cheer myself up by bringing back this memory from Toucan Terra

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[xyz99]

@@xyz99

 

Wonderful to hear you are going back to Costa Rica. Have a great trip. I can't wait to hear all about it.

 

I can't wait to get there

All I need is to get rid of this cold, and I'll hop on the plane. I'm afraid there will be no trip report from me (no talent for storytelling here, and don't want to subject you all to "we did this, then we did that, then the other that, and after that it was night and we went to bed"). But I will post pictures

[Chakra]

Some more photos of the Cabo matapalo area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chakra]

And some more ...

 

Our Dream House

 

 

 

Cool dudes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the coolest things to do was to stretch yourself on the beach and look at the birds flying over you

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Redeemer in the sky : absolving all my sins and blessing me with a fresh lease of life under the Neotropical sun. The advantage of lying on a beach with camera pointing up while the macaws do the synchronised dance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His Master's voice ??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chakra]

 

@@xyz99

 

Wonderful to hear you are going back to Costa Rica. Have a great trip. I can't wait to hear all about it.

 

I can't wait to get there

All I need is to get rid of this cold, and I'll hop on the plane. I'm afraid there will be no trip report from me (no talent for storytelling here, and don't want to subject you all to "we did this, then we did that, then the other that, and after that it was night and we went to bed"). But I will post pictures

 

 

Come on @@xyz99. Everyone can tell a story and every memory you share with us is unique and can never be replicated, so go ahead and share ! But first shake that cold off !

[xyz99]

Thanks Chakra!

When you have a cold you realize what you learned in school: nose, ear, throat...they are all connected. And now, they all hurt...

 

But CR air will do its magic soon

Can you imagine the doctor I saw today (not my regular) told me no alcohol at all, not even on New Year's night, if I want to shake this off fast? I think I need a 2nd opinion...

[Chakra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2016 by Chakra

[Chakra]

Thanks Chakra!

When you have a cold you realize what you learned in school: nose, ear, throat...they are all connected. And now, they all hurt...

 

But CR air will do its magic soon

Can you imagine the doctor I saw today (not my regular) told me no alcohol at all, not even on New Year's night, if I want to shake this off fast? I think I need a 2nd opinion...

 

I can tell you with nearly 30 years of expertise behind me , that warm mulled wine with cinnamon, bay leaf and clove will annihilate those nasty little buggers residing inside your upper respiratory passage in no time. You have your second opinion now, so enjoy :P

[xyz99]

Chakra,

You made one girl happy today. And I have to follow dr's advice, right?

[xelas]

@@Chakra

 

The bird that the guide was so excited about is a Greater Yellowlegs. It is an uncommon migrant, and a rare resident.

 

On your photo of the White Ibis, why did you set your focus on the plant at the extreme left side?!

[Chakra]

Soaking up the Pacifico !! Surfing Armchair style !!

 

 

 

 

No, this is not a river, just one of the many potholes on the road !

 

 

 

 

 

I was too greedy and wanted to see a big cat but sadly they had eluded me till now. Nito told me that I stood a chance of seeing a semi-wild Ocelot if I was willing to drive 10 km extra to La Tarde lodge on my way back to Jaco. I thought 10 kms : no big deal. Goodness me , that was one heart stopping drive. Nito never told me that half the road was washed away, the Google lady was completely clueles and the last bit was on a muddy slope. If I had broken down I'd have been stuck for a while !!

This ocelot is a free cat who was rescued as an orphan but he was allowed to hunt on his own when he recahed adulthood. There was no guarantee that he'll come out of the jungle but Marcello was confident that he'll be able to woo him out. It ahs rained quite a bit so it was cool and that helped us as well. After about 10 minutes Marcello managed to tarck him and coaxed him to come out.

I was blown away by its beauty. They are known as " Little Jaguars" and I could see why. He looked at us for several minutes before disappearing again into the shadows. I know this was not a real wild creature but it was still a sight to behold.

 

Gattatio : I love you !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Tarde is a fantastic place and if you are worried about staying inside Corcovado you may consider staying here as the animals are not aware of the park boundaries. They also have rescued snakes here kept in natural surrounding and I was once again mesmerised by the beauty of the eye-lash pit viper.

 

 

 

“I fear snakes, because if you look into the eyes of any snake you will see that it knows all and more of the mystery of man's fall, and that it feels all the contempt that the Devil felt when Adam was evicted from Eden." : Rudyard Kipling
Mesmerisingly beautiful Eyelash Pit Viper.

 

 

 

 

And on the way out I got stuck in the uphill muddy slope with potholes and did exactly what I did not intend to do by spinning the wheel. In my haste to escape I probably hit one of the tree trunks causing a small dent in my car. Thankfully I was within calling distance of Marcello and he came and after going up and down the slpoes several times was able to power the car up. Phew !!!! What a relief !!

 

Then a long drive all the way to Jaco for one night stay. I hit the mother of all rains halfway through. Driving was impossible and had to sit out the storm for about half an hour. Only good thing was that found a local FM station which was playing all the Queen's songs so Freddie Mercury gave me company for a while.

I did not like Jaco very much as it looked like a mish-mash of buidings built by the ocean. I saw a few birds by the river mouth but did not really have time to loiter arpound as we were leaving next morning by 9 am.

 

Edited December 30, 2016 by Chakra

[xyz99]

Oh boy, that ocelot is a beauty!

We saw one this year in Honduras, but it was a baby. An orphan, they were bottle feeding her, and they said they would release her, let her go when she got older. I really don't believe that a wild animal would leave humans and food to go hunting, but what do I know? In any case, she was adorable and we enjoyed seeing her.

[Chakra]

"You musth see Osama Bin Laden", said the Spanish lady in her broken English.
The German tourist sounded sceptical, " But Ozama iz not dere any more. "
"Non, Non , Non !! Osama back. Fight Mike Tyson. They love Madonna. Osama beat Tyson. Osama eat all chickens" , the Spanish lady became very animated.
"Danke. I moost see Ozama", said the German guy.
At this point curiosity was killing me and I could not help butting into the conversation between my fellow passengers in the plane.
No, they were not talking about a boxing match between resurrected Bin Laden and Mike "The Biter" Tyson over their common love interest of 80's sex symbol Madonna !
They were talking about the massive crocodiles which inhabited the Tarcoles river just under the bridge on the way to San Jose.
For some reason these crocs have taken a liking to that place which is very conveniently located next to the highway and a tourism industry has grown around that. Local people offer shows where crocks are enticed with dead chickens and brought dangerously close to the man holding the chicken.
Most of them have been given names to make them more attractive. Clearly Bin Laden is the biggest one here who has successfully beaten the hell out of other males like Mike Tyson and Tornado and now enjoys the sole right to enjoy the company of Madonna and other ladies and also gets the first bite of the dead chickens thrown.
It was easy to spot Bin Laden and Tyson as well. I was not sure about Madonna without her metallic bra but a sexy one with lots of gaps between her teeth was probably Madonna.
Most importantly I did not have to spend a single dollar to see these celebrities.

This pretty little one was sitting fearlessly among the monsters

Reached SJO airport in time, avoiding the horrendous traffic mostly, got lost once trying to find the gas station which was good ten minutes drive away, paid the departure tax and then my wife went into a massive shopping spree at the excellent Britt Store. I have to say that I was also very impressed with the collection of the chocolates on dispaly. Guava flavoured chocolate: which was a big hit with my colleagues. And then we boarded the big plane which took us away from the lush green land of Ticos to the misty gray England !

I sincerely hope I have given you a flavour of Costa Rica, which is a fantastic place to visit. It is most certainly not a poor relative of more famous places of biodiversity. It can stand its ground on its own and there are still plenty of unexplored corners. Go before it gets more commercialised !

So, there ends my trip report which I had planned to finish in the same year of travelling and I stiil have twenty two hours to spare . I thank everyone who took the trouble of reading my rambling and hope they will benefit from this long tale.

Travelling, it leaves you speechless, and then turns you into a storyteller

Edited December 30, 2016 by Chakra

[Chakra]

Oh boy, that ocelot is a beauty!

We saw one this year in Honduras, but it was a baby. An orphan, they were bottle feeding her, and they said they would release her, let her go when she got older. I really don't believe that a wild animal would leave humans and food to go hunting, but what do I know? In any case, she was adorable and we enjoyed seeing her.

 

I understand your point. I was reliably informed that this Ocelot was indeed a free animal and came and went on his own, fully capable of finding his own prey.

[Atravelynn]

Osama bin Laden and Madonna? What's going on? Very funny. If only the crocs could share in that laugh.

 

Beauty of an ocelot and beauty of a pit viper too. What is the story with your daughter and the snake? I did not see it.

[Chakra]

@@Chakra

 

The bird that the guide was so excited about is a Greater Yellowlegs. It is an uncommon migrant, and a rare resident.

 

On your photo of the White Ibis, why did you set your focus on the plant at the extreme left side?!

Thanks the talking walking bird encyclopedia !! OOOPS ! The ibis is indeed OOF !! Not the quality expected from a pro like me !!

Edited December 31, 2016 by Chakra

[Chakra]

Osama bin Laden and Madonna? What's going on? Who knows ? Everything is possible !

Very funny. If only the crocs could share in that laugh. I think they know

 

Beauty of an ocelot and beauty of a pit viper too. What is the story with your daughter and the snake? I did not see it. There was no story, just her holding a tame snake ! Agreed, not very exciting for us but I like to show the experinces of a family travelling together as most of the reports about travelling to off the beaten path places that I read here and also in TA, are focussed on adult travellers. I'm very happy that my kids ( who are not that young any more) do share my passion to travel and experince raw nature. They do grumble but later express their enjoyment and I'm sure they will thank me in future.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Love the Ocelot - and this whole trip report. It´s now a sure thing, Costa Rica and me have a date for 2018, and you played no small part in that. Thanks!

[Alexander33]

@@Chakra

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed this delightful report. You covered a lot of ground, and for such a small country, there is so much to see in Costa Rica.

 

Thank you for taking the time post your thoughts and experiences. Happy New Year to you!

[Zubbie15]

Thanks for sharing your experiences @@Chakra, it was really enjoyable to follow along and certainly informative for those of us planning potential trips to CR.

[Chakra]

Thanks for sharing your experiences @@Chakra, it was really enjoyable to follow along and certainly informative for those of us planning potential trips to CR. It has been a pleasure interacting with you and all the other fellow travellers.

 

@@Chakra

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed this delightful report. You covered a lot of ground, and for such a small country, there is so much to see in Costa Rica.

 

Thank you for taking the time post your thoughts and experiences. Happy New Year to you!

 

A Very Happy New Year to you as well. Your TR from BDC just prior to my trip was extremely helpful, especially from a photography point. You have hit the nail, for such a tiny place the biodiversity is amazing. Pound for pound CR will thrash Floyd Mayweather hands down.

 

Love the Ocelot - and this whole trip report. It´s now a sure thing, Costa Rica and me have a date for 2018, and you played no small part in that. Thanks!

 

Great. I'm so pleased to be a matchmaker !! Looking forward to the result of the date ! In the mean time let's see if you can arrange a date between me and Rwanda

.