Tag Archives: Costa Rica

Wildlife Safari in the Caño Negro Region – Part 1

(La Fortuna, Costa Rica)

Now *this* is why I came to Costa Rica!

After a breakfast featuring (you guessed it) rice and beans, I was picked up at my hotel to travel by van to the Caño Negro region in the far north of Costa Rica.   Our destination was only a few kilometres from the Nicaraguan border and, just in case, we were advised to take our passports with us.

It didn’t take long for the wildlife theme to appear.  When we stopped for provisions just outside of La Fortuna, we saw hundreds of green iguanas.  These are harmless creatures but they are also surprisingly large.  Like every picture you’ll see in the next two posts, all of these animals are living wild in their natural environment.

A pair of green iguanas hanging out in a tree
A pair of green iguanas hanging out in a tree

As we neared Los Chiles and the Nicaraguan border, we veered off the main highway and onto the bumpiest (so far) road I have ever travelled.  It was well worth it, though, as we saw a small sampling of Costa Rica’s incredibly diverse wildlife from the van:  a stork with a 10-foot wingspan, a baby caiman (similar to a crocodile) and a type of heron that actually keeps the predator population under control by feeding on baby crocodiles and caimans.

Our boat for the floating safari on the Río Frío
Our boat for the floating safari on the Río Frío

The real show, however, started when we boarded the boat and set sail down the Río Frío.  It took less than one minute to see the albino howler monkey shown at the top of this post.  These monkeys are usually black but a genetic mutation changed this one to orange.  There are only a handful of albino monkeys in Costa Rica but there are two (having the same parents) on this very river.

Albino howler monkey gathering leaves high above the Río Frío
Albino howler monkey gathering leaves high above the Río Frío

Making it even rarer was the fact that this was a hermaphrodite albino monkey!  Our guide thought that there might be one other such howler monkey in the world.  This particular creature is probably doomed to a short life, as its vibrant colour makes it susceptible to birds of prey and its hermaphrodite status means that it is perceived as a threat (and thus attacked) by both male and female howler monkeys.  Maybe that’s why it was exiled to a sparsely vegetated tree.

A baby caiman spotted on the way to our boat
A baby caiman spotted on the way to our boat

The baby caiman that we saw on the way to the Río Frío was cute:  maybe two feet long and having a playful grin on its face.  Seeing an adult caiman is another matter altogether:  they still have the grin, but it is more like the evil grin of The Joker (from Batman).

Adult caiman on the shore of Río Frío
Adult caiman on the shore of Río Frío

The adult caiman grows to “only” 7 or 8 feet in length.  While they are definitely predatory, they are “small” enough that they apparently do not present a serious threat to humans.   None of us in the tour group were willing to put our guide’s claims to the test, however.

One of the many very large birds in the Caño Negro region
One of the many very large birds in the Caño Negro region

Even though I have only been here for a couple of days, I can already say that Costa Rica is a birdwatcher’s paradise: there are more species here than in Canada and the U.S.A. combined.  While I didn’t catch the names of very many of the birds we saw, I was nonetheless impressed by the size and variety of them along the Río Frío.

A content green iguana
A content green iguana

Not surprisingly, it’s going to take at least one more blog post to properly document my Caño Negro experience.  Stay tuned to find out if anything came close to the fantastic albino howler monkey sighting!

My first day seeing the natural highlights of Costa Rica

(La Fortuna, Costa Rica)

As expected, getting out of San José is starting to ramp up the “wow” factor in Costa Rica. I wonder if this blog will be able to keep up with all of the new and unusual things I’m seeing!

Our day started with a drive north from  San José to La Fortuna, our home for the next two nights.  Our first stop was at a humble restaurant where we each had a hot mug of agua dulce (“sweet water”), which looked almost like tea but is made from sugar cane.  The restaurant had a miniature rainforest behind it, including a hummingbird-viewing platform.

Just another waterfall in Central Costa Rica
Just another waterfall in Central Costa Rica

Next up was a stop at some relatively small but intense waterfalls.  Our leader bought us some mamones chinos (literally “Chinese Suckers”) there for a snack- it is a fruit in the lychee family that is called “rambutan” elsewhere.  The covering looks really scary but it is easily peeled to reveal a sweet, addictive fruit.

The scary looking but ultimately delicious rambutan
The scary looking but ultimately delicious rambutan

After a quick stop at a coffee plantation, some of the group disembarked for some white-water rafting.  This definitely conflicted with the treatment for my sore shoulder, so I proceeded to La Fortuna.  The non-rafters had a nice Costa Rican lunch at a local café (my choice was the casado especial – of course, it included rice and black beans).

Casado Especial - with beans and rice, naturally
Casado Especial – with beans and rice, naturally

The rest of the afternoon was spent on a “volcano hike”.  We were taken to the nearby Arenal volcano to learn about the recent eruptions and to see a regenerated rainforest up close.  After being dormant for as long as anybody can remember, Arenal erupted spectacularly in 1968 and then again in 1992.  It has had some minor activity since then but nothing to match the two big eruptions.  In those eruptions, many people died and a huge swath of land was flooded by lava.

A toucan at the top of a tree, overlooking Lake Arenal
A toucan at the top of a tree, overlooking Lake Arenal

It was incredible to see how much growth can occur in 22 years – you can get an idea from the photo at the top of this post.  The affected area now hosts a huge variety of plant, animal and bird life.  You’d never guess that it used to be a desolate lava wasteland.  After spotting a huge wild turkey in a tree near the trail, we also saw termites, toucans, hairy spiders and various bizarre plants (including a species of tree with its roots above ground).   Although we did not see any, we certainly heard the extremely loud cries of the howler monkey.

This snake was hanging out on a tree near the start of our volcano walk
This snake was hanging out on a tree near the start of our volcano walk

We then crossed parts of the lava flow and were rewarded with brilliant views of Lake Arenal as well as the volcano itself.  Arenal volcano has a perfect pyramid shape:  it is like the Matterhorn of Costa Rica.  We also saw more toucans in full flight – it really is strange to see such a large-beaked bird flying so quickly from tree to tree.  I hope to see more wildlife like this during my Costa Rican adventure.

View of Arenal Volcano, from my hotel room in La Fortuna
View of Arenal Volcano, from my hotel room in La Fortuna

The day ended with a demonstration of, and practice in, tortilla making.  After enjoying the results, we sat down to a nice traditional dinner that included…rice and black beans!  Both lunch and dinner also featured homemade chilero, but I have to admit that I preferred the chilero from our first meal in San José.  The next two were much hotter but not as flavourful (or had their flavours obscured by the searing heat!).

Next up:  a day-long tour to a remote wildlife-viewing area near the border with Nicaragua.  There are going to be some great photos, I promise you!

Arrival in Costa Rica

(San José, Costa Rica)

My trip to Costa Rica involved an early morning flight from Toronto, so I decided to stay at an airport hotel the night before. Good thing I did – for the second time this year, my transportation from Kingston to Toronto was stopped. Last time, my train couldn’t proceed beyond Belleville because of an accident on the tracks. This time, my bus broke down and limped as far as Colborne. We waited at the “Big Apple” complex in Colborne for about 2 hours before we were rescued by another bus. While my plans ultimately weren’t impacted, some other people on the bus were really scrambling to get to Toronto. Some of them hired a cab to drive all the way there…about a 2 hour journey.

Fortunately, my trip to Costa Rica was nowhere near as eventful.  I was a little concerned that I only had 67 minutes between flights in Panama City, but the flight from Toronto arrived quite early and I was even able to catch up on some e-mail between flights.

One thing is clear:  both Panama and Costa Rica are considerably warmer than Canada.  It was quite cool when I left Toronto but it is definitely t-shirt/shorts weather now.

View from my hotel room in Costa Rica
View from my hotel room in Costa Rica

I have once again joined a tour group for this trip.  As travel planning fatigue was beginning to set in when I was scheduling my October travel, I was ready to let somebody else take control for this one.  I met my group Saturday evening and it looks like I’ve been fortunate again.  There are only 7 of us in the group and, though we are from 4 different countries, we seem to get along well and have a number of shared interests/perspectives.

For dinner, we went to a typical “soda” (see photo of our group at the top of this post).  A soda is simply a local restaurant featuring Costa Rican food and is usually very reasonably priced.  I had arroz con pollo (rice with chicken) along with a fresh carrot-orange juice.   Including tax and tip, it was about US$8.00.   I also really liked the chilero sauce…it was a perfect combination of heat and flavour.  A bottle of this wondrous condiment apparently shows up on the table of almost every Costa Rican restaurant, so I will be able to do a brief and intense survey of the various brands while I’m here!

Arroz con pollo - the dark dish is a black bean paste
Arroz con pollo – the dark dish is a black bean paste

As much as I enjoyed dinner in San José, the real trip (and the real photography) begins tomorrow.  Most tourists, myself included, are here for the natural beauty of Costa Rica…so tomorrow we head out for La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano.  We’ll be there for a couple of days, although at this point I don’t think I’ll be able to take part in some of the more “adrenalized” activities.  I recently aggravated a shoulder injury and I’ll have to be careful with it.  That’s OK – even if I can’t zipline this time, there are still plenty of great things to see on foot.