| Costa Rica - February 2011 | | Print | |
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Costa Rica Rainforests and Rivers
osta Rica offers some of the best possible Neotropical birding – the country is safe, the people friendly and the National Parks and wildlife reserves, that make up over 25% of the national land area, are well managed and, on top of this, with over 850 species recorded in the country, Costa Rica holds some of the richest birdlife of any country. In 1948, under the slogan ‘teachers, not soldiers’ Costa Rica took the foresighted and courageous decision to disband its army and put the money into education, with the result that today Costa Rica has one of the highest rates of national literacy in the world and conservation programme that we could all learn from. The coffee’s good too!
Tour Details Dates: Monday 28th February - Monday 14th March 2011 Accommodation: Comfortable hotels and lodges most with en-suite facilities Participants: 10 plus tour leader
Cost: from £2,485 Single Supplement: £384 Deposit: £250
This 15 day, 13-night trip has a superb itinerary, visiting some of the best birding spots in the country and includes two river trips; one down the Rio Sarapiqui and the other through the wonderful mangrove swamps at Tarcoles.We shall also visit Carera National Park, the cloudforest of the Monteverde Reserve and some of the most beautiful lowland rainforest on Earth in the Braulio Carrillio National Park. At La Selva and Hacienda Solimar shall also have a couple of the most knowledgable guides in Central America. Hacienda Solimar, where we spend three nights, is a working cattle range and apart from the birds we shall also see the ‘vaqueros’ (cowboys) going about their business. The trip will run with a maximum of 10 participants plus the tour leader, Jonathan Barnard, who says ‘for this trip we have booked a 29-seater bus in the back of which I have spent many hours! The bus will be driven by Santiago, with whom I have travelled twice before. He is a super bloke and a good birder....This trip is a few days longer than our last visit and should produce a species list of 350+’
A little tale from our trip in 2008 – Having seen several local boys swimming in the Sarapiqui River our intrepid tour leader joined them for a dip one warm evening after the day’s birding was done. Emerging from the water and drying himself off, he retrospectively asked our guide, Luis, if the crocodiles ever presented a danger to swimmers. ‘Sure’ replied Luis ‘every year some boys get eaten; it’s how things go. Every year boys in the country get eaten by crocodiles, and every year boys in the city die on motorcycles.’
But do bring your swimming gear! There are pools at La Selva and Hacienda Solimar.
Itinerary – Costa Rica, Rainforests and Rivers
Day 2 - We shall be woken by an alarm call at 0515 and shall meet at 0530 for coffee and snack before departing no later than 0600 for the highlands of Cerro de la Muerte (The Hill of Death) where we’ll be given breakfast on arrival at the Finca Mirador de Quetzales. Here, in the cloud forest we’ll look for Resplendent Quetzal and highland birds that we may not find elsewhere, such as Large-footed, Yellow-thighed and Peg-billed Finches, Volcano and Scintillant Hummingbirds and Collared Trogon. We shall then head to Savegre in search of more hummingbirds and other birds such as Spot-crowned Woodcreeper, Blue-throated Toucanet, Black-faced Solitaire and Rufous-capped Nightingale- thrush. Overnight San Jose
Day 3 - We head today for Carera National Park where we shall spend the day birding the forest. This is the furthest south that we shall venture and should pick up some of the Pacific birds that we will not find elsewhere. Overnight Villa Lapas
Day 4 - We do a boat tour through the wonderful Mangrove swamps at Tarcoles. Here we should find the gothic-looking Boat-billed Heron as well as several other heron species and waterbirds, plus raptors and Scarlet Macaws. On last year’s trip we were fortunate to get very good views of the rare and elusive Rufous-necked Wood Rail and also some a delightful pair of Crab-eating Racoons as well as American Crocodile and several hundred Brown Pelicans and also Magnificent Frigatebirds and warblers such as Prothonotory and Mangrove Warbler. Overnight Villa Lapas
Day 5 - We shall spend today birding our way across country to Monteverde (passing through Orotina for Black-and- -white Owl) and making some other stops en route. Overnight Monteverde.
Day 6 - Today we visit the Monteverde Reserve. Monteverde is famous for its Three-wattled Bellbirds among many others that we should see in this beautiful region of cloudforest. Overnight Monteverde
Days 7, 8, 9 - Leaving the relative cool of the cloudforest we make our way to Hacienda Solimar, a working cattle ranch in the dry Pacific north, which will be home for the next three nights. This area provides some of the richest birding in Costa Rica and over our three day stay we shall visit dry tropical forest, gallery forest as well as marshes, mangroves and salt pans. Target species will Thicket Tinamou, Elegant Trogon, Collared Forest Falcon, Long-tailed Manakin, the impressively large Spectacled Owl, Muscovy Duck and Jabiru Stork. Among the mammals we are likely to encounter are Mantled Howler Monkey, whose calls may wake us in the morning, and Coati Mundi. 3 nights at Hacienda Solimar.
Day 10 - A day of travelling cross country from the Pacific to the Caribbean side. We shall pass by Lake Arenal and Arenal Volcano, making a couple of stops en route. We could expect to see Gray-headed Chachalaca and both Chestnut-headed and Montezuma Orpoendola. We should arrive at Selva Verde Lodge (a lovely layout of stilted huts in the jungle joined by wooden walkways), our home for the next four nights, around mid-afternoon. After checking-in we’ll take a walk through the lodge grounds on the edge of some of the best preserved virgin rainforest in the world, hoping to find such species as the amusing Black-capped Pygmy tyrant together with Streak-headed Woodcreeper, Amazon Kingfisher, Summer Tanager, Snowy Cotinga and Gray-chested Dove. Overnight Selva Verde Lodge
Day 11 - The morning will be spent birding La Selva reserve going both into the jungle and along the river. One of the main target species along the river banks will be the glorious Sunbittern. Apart from birds we’ll also keep a look out for mammals such as the delightful Neotropical River Otter and the carnivorous Tayra. The afternoon will be spent by boat on the River Sarapiqui where we hope to see Green, Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers plus Long-tailed Tyrant and Rufous-tailed Jacamar. Overnight Selva Verde Lodge
Day 12 - Today we visit the Barulio Carrillio National Park, a beautiful area of relatively high forest, and pasture land at Chilamate. The National Park holds some of the most beautiful rainforest on Earth. We shall look for hummingbird species such as Snowcap together with Violet-headed Hermit, Rufous-throated Hummingbird, Green Thorntail, White-necked Jacobin and Crowned Woodnymph. We also expect to see several Tanager species as well as Woodcreepers and Antwrens and this is one of the best spots for the large Spider Monkey. In the afternoon we make a visit to the open pasture land of Chilamate. Here we look for Olive-crowned and Gray-crowned Yellowthroats together with White-crowned Parrot, Olive-chinned and Orange-Chinned Parakeets, Lineated and Black-cheeked Woodpeckers and both species of Tityra. Overnight Selva Verde Lodge.
Day 13 - Today we visit the famous La Selva Biological Research Station and surrounding area. We shall look for Great Tinamou, Red-rumped and Rufous-winged Woodpeckers, White-whiskered Puffbird, Great Currasow and with an outside possibility of Sungrebe and Agami Heron. Among the mammals present we could find Collared Peccary, Capuchin Monkey and Central American Agouti. We shall also spend some time looking for hummingbirds, warblers, flycatchers and tanagers in the botanical Gardens. Overnight Selva Verde lodge
Day 14 - We shall have a pre-breakfast walk before leaving the wonderful jungle of La Selva behind and heading to the airport. But the birding is not yet over! We still have a couple of stops to make. We shall make a stop at Virgen de Socorro looking for some mountain river specialities such as Torrent Tyrannulet and American Dipper. Our next stop will be at a little café with a big view, where we shall try to add a few more hummingbirds and other species. We arrive at San Jose Airport for our afternoon flight.
Day 15 - Arrive London. |