This is my final photo blog entry for our wildlife tour of Costa Rica at the back end of 2019. Our time was up at Tortuguero National park and we needed to get a boat back to civilisation, and then start our journey inland back to the capital, San Jose. Jesse, our super guide, had a nice little stop off planned at a place called Donde Cope, half way to our next lodge which was called Tapirus Lodge, in Braulio Carrilllo national park. I’d never been to either places before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, and after hearing a lot of hype about them, was very excited to see what wildlife could be found. We arrived at Cope’s place which was his house, surrounded by photographic hides with bird feeders all around. It was raining still and the light was awful, but the birds were streaming in! We probably saw more colour in that half hour than we did on the whole trip. Species of note were White-tipped Sicklebill a seldom seen hummingbird and a lifer for me, Chestnut-headed Oropendola, a full suite of Honeycreepers with Shining, Red-legged and Green all seen, and a lovely Emerald Basilisk hiding on a tree trunk. A great little stop off that I would highly recommend if you are in the Guapiles area. Cope is a lovely guy and oozes passion for wildlife, a must if you are in that area, especially if you are a wildlife photographer, as his hides are perfect for a number of species.
Then on to our final port of call, Tapirus lodge. A very well positioned hotel, restaurant and adventure activity place with an aerial tram that takes you slowly and peacefully through the different levels of the forest canopy. The surrounding forests were very good quality, in a transitional rainforest zone where the Caribbean lowland rainforests start to get higher towards the central highlands, creating the Caribbean Slope habitat. A very biologically diverse place! On arrival the local guides mentioned that the Bare-necked Umbrellabird was seen reliably every morning on a certain cecropia tree. My ears pricked up as this was the very top of my Costa Rica most wanted list. A bird I have wanted to see since buying my first Costa Rica bird guide, and a bird that had eluded me on every single trip to Costa Rica in the past. First up though was the aerial tram! Costa Rica is famous for these type of adventure activities through nature and they have all different kinds such as zip lines and aerial trams, yet I have somehow managed to avoid them on previous trips. It was basically a small carriage on a rope, like a ski lift, that took you above the forest canopy, giving you an altogether different perspective of a rainforest. I really enjoyed it, although sightings were few and far between, but its not a zoo, and you can’t expect wildlife to be hanging around waiting. However some of the group in a different carriage had point blank views of Northern Tamandua doing its usual thing of cascading down a tree. I wasn’t expecting to be seeing anteaters this high in the canopy!
View from the aerial tram
Back at base and the guides had found two very young Eyelash Pit Vipers. They barely developed and can’t have been alive for very long. They made for some interesting macro photography. Walking around this lodge I quickly realised how biologically intense the area was. We saw more living organisms here than any other place on the trip, it was literally teaming with wildlife, particularly insects. Apparently some Japanese photographers were there photographing moths, and had a moth light on the go which was pretty spectacular. Some of the bugs were out of this world. Unfortunately the bullet ants had got wind of the moth trap and were feasting on the rich pickings. They were the biggest ants I have ever laid my eyes upon, and we even saw one decapitating a beetle.
As part of your stay at this lodge you get a free guided night walk which we all obliged with. It was very humid, raining and super wet but the creatures of the night were out in full force. No mammals were to be seen but the diversity in bugs was extraordinary. Have a look at some of these macro photos. And yes, that is a spider eating a lizard!
Our last morning of the whole trip was upon us, and I decided to get up early and try for the Umbrellabird and the the other speciality of the lodge, the Tapir. The rest of the group were also up and eager to get some sightings in on our last day. Then, right on queue, the Bare-necked Umbrellabird showed up with the toucans, just as the guide predicted, on the exact branch he mentioned. How Bizarre! An amazing bird with an awesome little Elvis haircut. A great example of the male.
After prolonged views of the Umbrellabird I decided to have a look for Tapir. I wondered up a side road, and to my astonishment, two came plodding along from behind the maintenance shed. They are known to be quite tame at this particular lodge, but I wasn’t expecting them to walk right past me. Luckily I had my Gopro on me and was able to get these magnificent shots with the fish eye effect of the Gopro on the extremely long snouts.
Back for breakfast! Tapirus Lodge also has Zip lines dotting around the whole site, so the majority of the group decided to have a go on that, which looked super fun. I decided to try get my bird list up a bit and walked the grounds for more photos.
Time to leave Tapirus and head for our final destination towards San Jose before our flight home. We had a tour of the Toucan Rescue Ranch booked, which is a lovely little wildlife rescue centre that rehabilitates sloths, toucans, monkeys, raptors and anything that comes through the door needing their help. They are a small organisation with big hearts and do a lot for injured wildlife, so I always bring groups there when in Costa Rica, it is a great way to get close to some of these wild animals that you have slim to no chance of seeing in the wild.
And that was that, the trip had come to an end. An epic 2 weeks of wildlife watching that involved us having some once in a lifetime opportunities. So much wildlife packed in to a short period of time. My personal highlights would be the epic encounter with a Margay, seeing Humpback whales from a speedboat, and our incredible, once in a lifetime turtle hatching experiences! Costa Rica is a mind blowing place and one that offers me new experiences every time I visit.
I would just like to say a massive thanks to everyone who took part in the trip, you know who you are! Thanks for choosing me to put the trip together for you, and thanks for being good sports the entire way through the trip. I would also like to thank our extremely talented and super friendly local guide Jessy Lopez, always there and always sharp! If you are in Costa Rica and need a bird guide then this is your man. Huge thanks to Marvin, our driver, what a guy, Marvin for president. And a special thanks to my good friend and ground agent Sergio Arias from Birding Costa Rica, thanks a million for all your help while planning the tour.
And lastly, if you want to come on my next Costa Rica Tour then the details are here. Or if you need a custom or private wildlife tour putting together then please get in touch via email.
Pura Vida!
Jay
Team Costa Rica
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