Rare Adventures

Tag: Costa Rica adventures

  • Cahuita National Park and the creatures of nightmares

    Cahuita National Park and the creatures of nightmares

    After the excitement over more overnight tropical storm, howling monkeys and flooded bars we headed off to the Cahuita National Park. We had struggled to find an organised trip that didn’t involve snorkelling, so we drove up to the park ourselves.

    Spot the geko

    A chat with the ranger on the gate and we soon had ourselves a guide organised, and we set off. Surprisingly, in the opposite direction to the park, but the guide clearly knew what he was doing and pointed out an owl that looked exactly like the tree it was sleeping in, its camouflage was amazing.

    The guide then had us staring all over a tree looking for an iguana which was right in front of our eyes, but almost invisible. We then set off along a 2km long boardwalk that was built through the swamp to enable tourists to see the wildlife without wading through danger and all the snakes and other nasties that live in the swamp.

    The other highlight was this little yellow worm which seemed harmless enough but turned out to be e baby viper, already with all its venom loaded ready to go.

    I was a bit surprised at the lack of wildlife on show, but that is the problem with nature, it isn’t cooperative. The main even was a troop of cappuccino monkeys who are a deeply unpleasant creature. They are very territorial and seem to attack pretty much anything that comes along, including tourists.  

    Cappucinno monkeys

    When we (and other tourists) stopped in their territory, they surrounded us in the tree ready to attack so it was wise to keep moving. Apparently, these monkeys even rape the Howler Monkey females, probably in the hope that they stop screeching at night,

    deadly little viper snake

    At the end of the boardwalk the guide took his cash, and relieved me of an addition £7 cost he didn’t have any change – it isn’t just the monkeys that are dodgy.

    Cahuita beach in the national park

    The trek then continued along the deserted coastline, but by now we had seen quite a bit of deserted beaches, and we did get to see a little raccoon hanging around.

    Deadly spiders

    Now if the daytime was a bit boring, the night time certainly wasn’t with a range of creepy crawlies that seemed to belong to nightmares more than our world, but here are a few shots of these amazing creatures of the night that came alive when the sun went down.

    Cheeky miniature frog

    We could hear the frog in the daytime, but as it is completely translucent, it is impossible to see it in the daylight, but at night it’s eerie glow appears in the torch light.

    nighrmare imagtes

    This scorpian is only visible when a blue light is focused on it.

    deadly insects
  • San Jose – our first day in Costa Rica

    San Jose – our first day in Costa Rica

    I guess the lesson from the trip out from London is don’t fly via the US to get anywhere, Newark airport is now on my blacklist along with Paris airport.

    When we finally got here after 24 hours travelling it was typically clunky, and we could have done without being given a room next to the motorway by Radisson, but it’s all sorted now, and we are happy again.

    Central San Joze, Costa Rica

    My mate Jason Cole told me not to bother with San Jose because there was nothing to do there, as normal I ignored advice.

    San Jose Market, Costa Rica

    How wrong he was, we found a walking tour of the best sights that included TWO markets, eating strange fruit, chocolate and coffee tasting and we even cooked ourselves a meal in a café, and this tour generally proved that there is actually nothing much to do here. 

    Cooking lessons in Costa Rica

    We did learn that in Costa Rica their version of an orange is actually yellow, and moreover it tastes of absolutely nothing – which is weird.

    So we went for a beer and watched the parrots giving the pigeons a bit of an airborne kicking in the park.

    Beer in Costa Rica central square, San Jose

    Clearly the Spanish and Portuguese weren’t interested and gave it a miss but at least we proved Jason’s theory, so tomorrow we have a long drive down to Porto Viejo on the Caribbean coast and then we go sloth hunting, by canoe, in the forest on Saturday, hopefully we will bag a couple for tea.