Rejuvenation and Redemption in the Rainforest: Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula, January 2016

[Chakra]

I hope the birds also visit other places not as posh as BDC lodge, where we'll be staying ;)

I'm a very very novice birder but even I'm salivating !

[xyz99]

Birds are everywhere in CR. And what's amazing is that they are not as skittish as they are at here, at home. It's like they know it's vacation when they are there

[Livetowander]

Had enough birds for awhile? No, absolutely not!

Edited June 18, 2016 by Livetowander

[RichB]

Costa Rica is absolutely beautiful and so are your pictures...Can I ask would you say Costa Rica is an expensive place to visit for a wildlife destination, and roughly how much could one expect to pay for a 2 week trip there..similar to the trip you did? Thankyou.

[Alexander33]

@@RichB

 

Our base rate at Bosque del Cabo, 7 nights, full board in a deluxe cabin, was $4,060.00 USD (total for 2 people). Guided activities are extra (some were a tad expensive, in my opinion, but the costs were clearly spelled out -- no surprises at the end), and we participated in a number of these. As I recall, 2-hour bird walks were $30 USD per person, a 4-hour guided rainforest walk was $45 USD per person, and a 2-hour private guided tour offsite, with private vehicle, was $85 USD. So between the organized activities we selected, as well as our not inconsiderable bar tab , we paid around another $650 USD. Transportation to and from the airport in Puerto Jimenez was $30 USD each way.

 

I will provide logistical information about our trip at the end of the report.

 

Keep in mind that Bosque del Cabo would be considered at the high end of the market in Costa Rica, which was something we were seeking for this particular trip (that would be the "Rejuvenation" part of my title). It does offer a few other cabins that are more basic and less expensive than the deluxe cabins, and these all have their drawbacks, but they do provide an alternative for those who are on a tighter budget but nevertheless would like to stay there.

 

More importantly, there are many other very nice lodging options in Costa Rica overall that are significantly less expensive. For example, one lodge that I've settled on for a future trip (hint, hint, y'all) is close to 40% less than Bosque. It's not as luxurious or as remote, but it certainly appears to offer everything I look for in a nice eco lodge.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Alexander33

[Alexander33]

@@xyz99

@@michael-ibk

@@Chakra

 

Thanks so much for your encouraging words and for following along.

 

@@xelas

 

Thanks for the more detailed information on the keel-billed toucan. I thought they were absent from the Osa, but not positive. Just one more reason to explore other areas of the country!

 

@@Livetowander

Had enough birds for awhile? No, absolutely not!

Your wish is my command. But, allow me to throw a few bones to the mammal lovers.....

 

 

Of course, we did encounter mammals with four legs as well. My favorite were the white-nosed coatis. Although males tend to keep to themselves deep in the forests, maternal packs are more sociable. They would often roam the grounds, searching for insects, ripe fruits or whatever other enticing morsels they could scrounge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although they were not shy, I found it a challenge to get satisfactory photographs of them, a conundrum probably created in no small part on account of my insistence at keeping my 200-500mm lens with me at all times (lest I miss some rare colorful bird). A shorter lens would have been a better choice, but I never made the time to prioritize this effort.

 

In the trees above the coatis were red-tailed squirrels. One in particular was enamored of the fruits in the palm tree above our deck.

 

 

 

 

 

We had seen agoutis in Peru, and I explained in that report about the critical role they play in dispersing Brazil nut seeds in the jungle. We just saw a lot more of them in Costa Rica.

 

 

 

One evening, as J. was making another wine run to the bar, I stepped into the outdoor shower to rinse off before dinner. Coming back into the cabin, I was met by a familiar pair of eyes: a raccoon had decided to step in and investigate things.

 

Although it looks very similar to the common raccoons we find throughout urban North America, this actually was a crab-eating raccoon, a neotropical species found mainly along the coast. I was so focused on shooing him out of our cabin that I didnt manage a photo.

 

 

Edited June 18, 2016 by Alexander33

[Alexander33]

One morning, J. was lagging, so I went ahead up the road toward the Pacific Trail, where a tree was fruiting, attracting mixed-flocks of colorful song birds. Photographing these hyperactive little things was a real challenge. The only bird that consistently was cooperative was the tiny red-capped mannakin.

 

 

 

 

I was busy having fits trying to get shots of its cousin, the blue-crowned mannakin (about the same size, but all black except for a bright blue streak of feathers on the top of its head), as well as other tiny, colorful birds in the canopy, like the honeycreepers.

 

 

 

 

Frustrated by my lack of success, I lowered my camera and looked back down the road to see if J. had caught up with me. Instead, I saw a small group of collared peccaries crossing the road. They crossed one at a time, such that I could not get more than one in any given frame.

 

 

 

We would see these again during a morning hike on the Zapatero Trail. I confess I didn’t get that excited about the peccaries, simply because they are also found in the region of south Texas where I grew up, where they are called javelinas.

 

In fact, I admit to a prejudice of discounting, if you will, the creatures that we came across that are also found at home, as I wanted to concentrate on finding things that I wouldn’t ordinarily see.

 

Nevertheless, this baby nine-banded armadillo proved irresistible.

 

 

 

And it was hard to ignore the summer tanager, a migratory species that breeds in the United States during spring and (surprise!) summer, but spends the winter in Central and South America.

 

 

 

 

[TonyQ]

@@Alexander33

Beautiful coatis - and the armadillo is excellent. I am also really enjoying the bird shots - in particular the red-capped mannakin

[Atdahl]

More awesome shots Peter! Looks like you saw a great diversity of species. A daytime armadillo is rare there (I don't think we have ever seen one at BdC) and the picture is fantastic!

[elefromoz]

@@Alexander33, the birds and your photography of them, are fantastic. Whilst you may "discount" some of the animals, they are so exotic to me here. The little Armadillo is just great.

[xyz99]

I think I need to go back to BdC - if only for the manakin and the armadillo

 

Great pictures, you had some amazing sights!

[Kitsafari]

Stunning trogon and toucans, enchanting coutis and a delightful armadillo. You saw a huge variety and both you and J take really beautiful pictures. CR is too far for us ti travel to, so i only have TRs like yours to really experience it.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Kitsafari

[Alexander33]

@@TonyQ, it truly was a visual feast for the eyes.

 

@@Atdahl, the armadillo was out in the early mornings and evenings for several days, so I had no idea that was unusual. I'm glad I spent some time with the little guy. With my luck, now I'll never see another one!

 

@@elefromoz, thanks for your kind words. I guess it's easy to take some things for granted, as many of the commonplace creature you experience every day would be finds-of-a-lifetime for me. I all boils down to one's perspective, doesn't it?

 

@@xyz99, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the tent-making bats were cute. In fact, that was one of my favorite sightings. There is a snow-white colored tent-making bat (believe it's called the Honduran white bat) that are found on the Caribbean slope. They are just totally cool-looking. And, yes, I think you do need to return to Bosque del Cabo -- soon.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Alexander33

[Alexander33]

If you are enjoying this report, then you will love the Amazon. We spent 5 nights in Tambopata National Park in Peru in 2014. To me, the main difference between Costa Rica and the Amazon is size and remoteness. Costa Rica offers an incredible degree of biodiversity in a small area (about the size of the U.S. state of West Virginia). That means you can see a wide variety of species with relative ease of access. On the other hand, what struck me about the Amazon was just how immense it was and how far from civilization we were -- a feeling of truly being in primeval nature. Have a great time!

 

@@Kitsafari, I was going to play travel agent and show you how easy it is, but you're right. Costa Rica is not an easy destination for you to reach. Nevertheless, I hope you will reconsider anyway, jet lag notwithstanding. The toucans and trogons are waiting for you.

[Alexander33]

Snakes were not high on our list of things to see. I’m rather fascinated by some snakes, as long as we are both a very safe distance from one another, but J. does not have a particularly high opinion of them. The video in @Atdahl’s report of a snake in the swimming pool had him facetiously talking of cancellation.

 

As we were there during the dry season, the conventional wisdom that few snakes would be seen held true; we only came across a few non-venomous cat-eyed snakes, all on our night walk with Philip. These turned out to be much, much smaller than I had imagined them to be – they were about the same size as the harmless garter snakes we sometimes find in our gardens at home during the spring. Crisis averted!

 

One reptile we did see was the dinosaur-looking common basilisk (or Jesus Christ lizard) that we found one morning after breakfast, gazing upon the world from a tree next to our cabin. (They are called "Jesus Christ lizard" for their ability to jump into and run on the surface of the water -- with limitations -- when escaping predators. We didn't get to see this trick.)

 

 

 

 

There were, however, a few snake reports delivered by other guests. We had spent a bit of time one morning with a British couple who were mainly interested in birds. After breakfast, we left for our morning hike while they continued their bird walk. When we returned for lunch, we learned that while birding in the tropical garden, a clearing about 1 mile from the lodge, they had lowered their binoculars just in time to avoid intersecting with an 8-foot long boa constrictor. Their video of the snake as it made its way into the forest was duly passed around the dining room that afternoon.

 

But the real story belonged to the American couple who had been hiking down the Pacific Trail on the afternoon following our hike on the very same trail. The trail features a small waterfall on one side as it descends the slope, creating a narrow creek bed that crosses the trail below it. We found it a very picturesque scene, but that, of course, is likely because it didn’t include the fer-de-lance that was there when the American couple crossed it.

 

The fer-de-lance is a very dangerous viper. It won’t strike unless provoked, but when it does strike, it does not hold back on the venom. As a result, the fer-de-lance is responsible for more deaths and amputations from resulting tissue necrosis than any other snake in Costa Rica. Its camouflage makes it difficult to detect on the leaf littered ground, which is one of the reasons guests are implored to stay on the trails (which are very well maintained and dutifully kept free of debris) – not that J. and I needed any convincing!

Edited June 19, 2016 by Alexander33

[Alexander33]

The downside to visiting during the dry season is that the frogs for which Costa Rica is so famous were not particularly abundant. One particular trail near the lodge reliably yielded tiny black-and-green poison dart frogs each morning.

 

 

 

Of course, not everything in the rainforest is tiny. We did encounter some species of birds that were quite conspicuous.

 

One morning, we returned to our bungalow following breakfast to find a pair of crested guans in the tree beside our deck. Only one of them was unobstructed.

 

 

 

Despite their impressive size, it’s surprisingly difficult to get a good shot of the Giant Currasow, as they amble irregularly like a chicken and can manage to disappear into the depths of the jungle in the blink of an eye. When you see their size, and the fact that they’re on the ground, you think, “There’s no way I could miss on these.” Well, actually, yes there is……

 

 

Male

 

 

 

Female (which I felt is the more strikingly-plumaged sex)

 

 

 

 

The bare-throated tiger heron is usually found in wetlands and along streams.

 

 

 

The orange coloration in the portrait is actually a bird-of-paradise (flower) that I couldn’t work around.

 

 

Intently surveying the garden most mornings was a roadside hawk.

 

 

 

And down the main road from the lodge, we regularly encountered this black hawk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alexander33]

And, now, to close out, a mystery hummingbird. I’ve plied through my Birds of Costa Rica book, but I simply cannot ID this guy.

 

 

 

Any ideas?

 

[Alexander33]

There were so many other things that we stopped to savor and enjoy, and to which I’d like to devote more time photographically in the future: the fascinating insects, the unusual plants, and beautiful rainforest landscapes.

 

Butterfly (I haven't even begun to start learning these. If anyone has an ID, please let me know.)

 

 

 

Leafcutter ants -- trying a macro subject with my telephoto lens.

 

 

 

Same with this flowering branch of the fascinating cannonball tree.

 

[Alexander33]

With each trip I take, I learn more – about nature, about the world, and about myself.

 

On our first adventure to South Africa in 2013, my eyes were opened and my interests in wildlife and nature, long dormant since my teenage years, were reawakened. The challenges that we encountered in Peru in 2014 taught me to not take any of it for granted. The magic that Tswalu performed last year compelled me to discard my expectations and simply appreciate whatever was before me at the moment.

 

These lessons all seemed to culminate on this last jaunt to Costa Rica, leading to a week of largely unstructured exploration, new discoveries and a celebration of the here-and-now as it all unfolded before us. By the end of the week, good sleep, healthy food, tons of exercise and the constant engagement of all my senses seemed to transform me until I was almost marching to the beat of a new rhythm altogether.

 

I mentioned at the start of this report that, “Life intervenes.” It always does, and it did for us in Costa Rica as well. The day of our departure arrived. Our duties and obligations at home beckoned. But it had been a blissful break.

 

 

 

 

 

Best of all, the rainforest did give me another chance, and I made my peace with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, Brazil beckons. I don’t know what lessons the future has in store for me next, but I do know that, whatever they are, I’ll be a dedicated and attentive student.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Alexander33

[Alexander33]

Overall Impressions and Logisitics

 

The Lodge

 

Bosque del Cabo is a wonderful lodge. The setting is spectacular, and our cabiña was lovely. What really made it special, however, was the deck overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I could have whiled away a month of afternoons right there.

 

The cabiñas are not air-conditioned, but there is a small electric fan mounted over the bed. While the fan provided some relief, it was still very hot and humid (and would be even more so during the rainy season), and a number of guests mentioned that they were having trouble sleeping on account of the sultry climate. I managed with no problem because of a tried-and-true recipe I came up with out of desperation on our first night in the Peruvian Amazon: Place one Xanax tablet in your mouth. Take one sip of water. Swallow.

 

The cabiñas are enclosed, but not solidly. There are louvered doors across the deck and to one side. Beds are draped in mosquito netting. As we were there in the dry season, mosquitoes were not a problem. However, other critters can and do get in, so having the mosquito netting helps keep visitors off you. For instance, a bat had taken residence in our thatched roof, and every time I would turn the bathroom light on in the middle of the night, it’d start flying around crazily, scaring the bejeesus out of me. One night, the most enormous grasshopper that I could ever imagine decided to try to bunk with us. So having the mosquito netting drawn offers peace of mind that you wouldn’t wake up startled with some creepy-crawly making its way up your leg.

 

Food

 

The food was very good. After a week, the breakfast and lunch menus did start to get a little monotonous, but that never stopped me from cleaning my plate at every meal. Breakfast and lunch are served at individual tables, but dinners are served from a buffet and are taken at tables joined together family-style (although you can request to sit at an individual table on the deck). On all but our last night, we sat at the family-style tables and enjoyed chatting with a wide mixture of guests (mainly from the U.S. and U.K. while we were there).

 

Dinners always had a surprisingly wide selection of vegetables. Among the activities offered at Bosque del Cabo are half-day and full-day fishing expeditions. As a result, several dinners featured a fish entrée, the fresh spoils of one of those expeditions. The tuna steaks we had one night were to die for!

 

Staff and Guides

 

The staff was uniformly friendly and gracious, informal without being intrusive. Laundry service is available for an extra charge. Given that I was going through at least 2 tee shirts each day, we availed ourselves of this service several times during the week.

 

Both Philip and Carlos were very good guides. Philip is so knowledgeable and polished in his presentation that he really should have his own series on Nat Geo Wild. Aside from the 4-hour primary rainforest tour, I did find some of the tours a tad abbreviated and perhaps a bit on the expensive side. For example, the 2-hour morning bird walk around the lodge grounds is $30 USD per person. I don’t normally spend $60 before breakfast, but at the same time, it got us oriented to the grounds and more familiar with what we might likely be able to see on our own, so in the end, I’d say it was worth it. (Speaking of expenses, U.S. dollars are widely accepted in Costa Rica in addition to the national currency, the colón).

 

[Alexander33]

Getting There (with Luggage)

 

The easiest way to get to Bosque del Cabo is to fly to Puerto Jiménez from San José. There are two airlines that serve Puerto Jiménez (as well as other cities in Costa Rica near popular destinations): Sansa and Nature Air. Both offer essentially the same product, so deciding on one or the other largely just boils down to scheduling and personal preferences.

 

We chose Sansa because it flies out of its own hangar at Juan Santamaría International Airport, meaning that you don’t have to go through security in the main terminal building, which you do with Nature Air. In addition, Sansa is affiliated with the larger commercial Avianca Airlines, which gave us the impression (rightly or wrongly) that its safety operations might be more stringent or regulated. But both airlines have long served domestic locations in Costa Rica, and there were plenty of guests at Bosque del Cabo that had come in on Nature Air and reported only good things about it.

 

Our aircraft was a 12-seat Cessna 208. One thing I had sweated was that both airlines have strict weight limits. Each passenger is allowed one checked bag of up to 30 lbs. and one carry-on of up to 10 lbs. According to Sansa’s posted regulations, the carry-on cannot exceed 20 linear inches (height + length + width), which adds up to a ridiculously small package. The problem was that my camera equipment weighed more than 10 lbs. and my camera backpack was 36 linear inches.

 

I had read in various online forums that the airlines are only concerned about weight and that they would not measure our bags. So we carefully weighed everything before leaving home, with my shifting a few sturdier camera items to my checked bag solely for the Sansa flight and J. carrying the 200-500 mm lens. I can attest that they do weigh your checked bag – and mine weighed in at exactly 30.0 lbs. Whew! But even better than that, they did not weigh our carry-on. Instead, they weighed each passenger and his or her carry-on. So the reports that they are just concerned about overall weight on the plane appear to be accurate – and I was able to put all of my camera equipment in my backpack as a carry-on with no problem at all.

 

The lodge is a little more than 1 hour away from Puerto Jiménez over a very bumpy road. They will provide transfer services to and from the airport for $30 USD each way.

 

[xyz99]

"The downside to visiting during the dry season is that the frogs for which Costa Rica is so famous were not particularly abundant."

 

Yes, I'm tempted to try the rainy season next time (we were there in February), but....maybe not that tempted. We spent a week of torrential rain this past Feb in Honduras, and it was no fun. Granted, we were not prepared as it was supposed to be the dry season, but still... We got tons of hummingbird sightings though, some keel-billed toucans, and other cool birds. It was a very good trip anyway, it's just that it could've been so much better

 

Love your hawks and the basilisk.

[Kitsafari]

With each trip I take, I learn more – about nature, about the world, and about myself.

 

On our first adventure to South Africa in 2013, my eyes were opened and my interests in wildlife and nature, long dormant since my teenage years, were reawakened. The challenges that we encountered in Peru in 2014 taught me to not take any of it for granted. The magic that Tswalu performed last year compelled me to discard my expectations and simply appreciate whatever was before me at the moment.

 

 

@@Alexander33 you sum it up perfectly.

 

Fascinating basilisk! i've seen them in documentaries and i was always awestruck by its incredible feat to run on waters. and snakes are the stuff of my nightmares.

Edited June 20, 2016 by Kitsafari

[xelas]

@@Alexander33 , BdC owners should give you a special discount for your next stay, since you have done such a great job describing and photographing all the goodies they are serving!

 

 

 

OF COSTS AND SNAKES (addendum by a passionate Ticolandia fan)

 

 

As for the question by @@RichB , which was already aptly answered by Peter, here are my views from the "other side of the moon" i.e. budget.

 

Bosque del Cabo is, rightfully, on top of those wildlife lodges in Costa Rica. Nearby Lapa Rios is even more expensive but it is not a dedicated wildlife lodge. Similar in price, but mainly for birders, is also Rancho Naturalista.

 

But those two are top tier as costs are concerned. There are many others that will put you close to the wildlife for much less money involved. On three separate trips (each in green season, 2 x August and 1 x June) our average cost for a room with a breakfast was below 100 USD per night. A private guide for 3-4 hours was again around 100 USD (and a lunch as we have always stayed longer). Having your own set of wheels will cost between 50 - 100 USD per day depending on the type of the car (my preferred one is Daihatsu Terios).

 

Thus, based on my limited experiences with wildlife destination, Costa Rica, while not a cheap destination, for sure is an affordable destination, which allows its visitors easy access to abundance of wildlife that can be found in many areas of which 1/3 of the country is under protection. Speaking of rain, yes, it will rain. Maybe even daily. But to my experiences rain is mostly afternoon, 3-5 pm, with clear and sunny mornings when the wildlife observation anyway has to be done.

 

Visiting Corcovado National Park is a must for any wildlife seeker; by introducing the obligatory guiding it became more expensive, however, by opening a new trail near Dos Brazos, one does not need to go anymore to La Sirena ranger station (which based on some reports has becomed a bit crowded specially in dry months of Jan-Mar).

 

 

And for those fearing of a close encounter with a fer-de-lance. Costa Rica has many snakes ... and thus it also has the best anti-venom services in Central America, and to some reports also in the whole Americas. Some statistics says around 600 persons are bitten each year, majority farmers working on their fields, of which only 6 ended with death. However, being bitten by a snake is no fun, as probably Carlos has also told you, Peter?? So be careful, never touch anything you are not sure, and always look where you are stepping. This below is a photo from our personal fer-de-lance encounter; the snake was young and small but fierce and deadly nevertheless:

 

Nikon D60, AF-S 70-300VR @ 92 mm, f/4.8, 1/50 sec, ISO 1600 - taken by Tanja after pushing me to step over this snake, and who knows, maybe even saving my life!

 

 

[RichB]

Wow Costa Rica sounds fantastic and your pictures are beautiful...This country is definately on my short list..Thanks for sharing..