(Monteverde, Costa Rica)
While Costa Rica is a small country, there are some formidable transportation barriers. The barriers are both physical and climatic: in addition to steep mountains and raging rivers, the massive amount of rainfall wreaks havoc on the roads. Santa Elena (the central “town” of the Monteverde Cloud Forest) is not very far from La Fortuna but the quickest way to make the trip involves a bus, a boat across Lake Arenal, and another couple of hours of the most bone-shattering, brain-scrambling dirt/rock road you can imagine. It’s definitely worth the effort, however.
Monteverde felt right. We’re still in the tropics, but the altitude and the weather keep the temperatures at tolerable levels. I’ve been able to do a lot of (sometimes strenuous) walking here without any difficulty.
Our hotel is spectacularly situated on the slopes of the mountain overlooking Santa Elena. I normally don’t see the value in paying extra for a good view…but I have to admit that the views here are spectacular.
While today was a busy day, the highlight was probably our “night walk” through the dense vegetation. We took a small van to a remote mountainside location and were equipped with flashlights: we were going to search for nocturnal creatures in the jungle! This sounds crazy but it actually makes a lot of sense in a place where 80% of the creatures are nocturnal. As our guide didn’t seem to be afraid of any lurking dangers, we figured that it would be OK for us too.
Trekking through the dense rainforest at night is completely different from anything I have done before. In brief: it is dark and creepy. More than one of us commented that it felt like we were in some action/adventure movie with a nighttime tropical chase scene. I aimed my flashlight in front of my feet for the most part, to make sure I didn’t stumble on any exposed roots…or snakes. There are a lot of poisonous snakes here! However, from time to time I illuminated the area around me to see what kind of tropical life was around.
The creepiness started early: we saw a tarantula within a minute of entering the forest. It was very large and very hairy: fortunately, it retreated into a tree trunk shortly after we saw it.
The next sighting was of a kinkajou. It’s also known as the “honey bear”; it is related to the raccoon but looks somewhat like a large ferret with the face of a bear cub. It was very shy so getting a good photograph proved to be difficult. Nearby, we saw a green viper hanging in a tree. We couldn’t get too close; even though it wasn’t very large, it could really do a lot of damage.
The largest sighting was of a two-toed sloth. It isn’t closely related to the three-toed sloth but is also a rather dirty and, well, sloth-like creature. Fortunately, once the sloth had been spotted, it was relatively easy to observe. They really don’t move fast; it looks like a real effort for the sloth to do much of anything. They can’t walk but are able to pull themselves around the tree trunk and branches. When the sloth does move, however, it is quite impressive…in a “I can’t believe that thing is moving” way. The photo at the top of this post shows the sloth hanging upside down from a branch.
We didn’t see a jaguar or any other large cat on this night: such sightings are exceedingly rare. Still, I’m really glad that I went on this near-cinematic night-time adventure. Once again, seeing truly “wild” animals was much more satisfying than seeing animals in captivity. For what it’s worth, I ultimately felt safer in the Costa Rican rainforest at night than I would in a Canadian forest at night. As a bonus, there weren’t any mosquitoes either!