Tag Archives: corcovado

venturing into the wild side of costa rica

09 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in outdoors, travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Voilà! My first blog post for the Travel+Escape channel’s website is up! Click here to find out just how much fun I had forging a croc-invested river to get to the picturesque beach on the other side. It’s Part 1 of a three-part series on my adventures in Costa Rica’s remote Drake Bay, on the Osa Peninsula. Part 2, about my close encounters with wild animals in the lush jungles of Corcovado National Park, goes live Tuesday, March 13! Don’t forget to check out the posts!

__________________________________________________________

Costa Rica, Te Extraño

Read more about my trek into wilds of Costa Rica:
It’s a Jungle Out There!     Hola, Drake Bay
Breakfast with a Toucan    Snorkelling with Sharks 
Lunch with a Lizard
Costa Rica, Te Extraño 
Horseback Riding Along the Jungle Trails of Drake Bay, Costa Rica  
Answering the Call of the Wild in Costa Rica


horseback riding along the jungle trails of drake bay, costa rica

21 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by in outdoors, photography, travel

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

pirate cove, drake bay, costa rica
DAY 5 Another lazy day! Except, I never do lazy very well. As I’ve said before, I’m not the kinda gal that jets off to a tropical destination just to lounge on a beach. That’s why Costa Rica is an ideal getaway for me – there are more than enough activities to balance out the laziness. But after shelling out the big bucks in Drake Bay to snorkel with sharks near Isla del Caño and mingle with monkeys in the rainforests of Corcovado National Park, I’d decided to cool my heels by spending a few days chilling at my eco-lodge, Pirate Cove. Or so I thought.

Honestly, there’s really only so much beach I can take. So for my second lazy day at Pirate Cove, I threw in a couple of hours of horseback riding in between my beach time and paddle time. And unlike the horseback riding I did later on in Santa Elena, riding at Pirate Cove felt like an authentic Tico experience.

There was something very relaxed and easy about it all. Susanne, one of the owners, manages the lodge and loves horseback riding; she was really excited to ride that day because the only chance she gets to ride is when a guest rides too. That day, I was the sole guest who’d requested it, so it was going to just be me and Susanne riding through the jungle! It’s personal experiences like riding with a private guide that made my stay at Pirate Cove so special.

As usual, I waited till low tide before crossing the river. I strolled along the beach a bit before lounging under an almond tree, where I'd seen a pair of scarlet macaws the day before (macaws love almonds, so it's not unusual to find them in almond trees!). This stretch of beach became my go-to spot for lounging. Yes, I do lounge, though not very often and not for very long! And, hey, if lying on a deserted beach was what it took to get a shot of those elusive scarlet macaws munching almonds, well, I wasn't about to complain.

Except that all of a sudden, Susanne came galloping up on horseback. I didn’t realize it was her till she was close – hardly anyone walks, let alone rides, along that two kilometre beach. I thought we were riding at 1 p.m., which is why I’d spent the morning relaxing at the beach; she thought we were riding at 11 a.m. and was wondering why I wasn’t at the lodge. Oops! Thankfully, they’re pretty laid back at Pirate Cove, and when Susanne found me lying there, she told me to continue chilling and we’d ride after lunch. Phew!

When I returned to the lodge, I found our horses waiting next to the trees down by the beach. I was a smidge scared to get on my horse, Coyote (he’s the one in the back), for fear his saddle was going to shift right around as I swung my leg up and over.

As I was taking such a long time trying to mount Coyote, Susanne had me use the bench beside this hammock as a step. And I know it’s silly, but I had to use it to dismount Coyote, too. I chalk it up to my fear of heights!

From the lodge, we rode along the main (gravel) road, and on the way to the tiny town of Drake, I noticed a series of monkey bridges in the treetops so the monkeys could cross the road! It really is a jungle out there, just beyond the lodge!

And it’s really rugged out there too, as I’ve said before. Those monkey bridges are some of the only bridges in the area. When we reached the Rio Drake, our horses continued right on through it without a pause! I’d crossed the river by car the same way the day I arrived – and, lemme tell you, I thought our car was going to get stuck. No worries about our horses getting stuck, though I did fear I’d fall off Coyote, thus I gripped the reins mighty tight.

Riding was fun! I enjoyed passing by the locals’ houses and looking out across the fields and forests to the mountains in the distance. It took us about half an hour to ride to the town, where we stopped at the soda for a drink. I was still too scared to get off and on Coyote, so I stayed on him and snacked like that while Susanne was laughing at me (I would have laughed at me too!).

After our break, we turned down the little road past the school (which has a big football field) and continued through a muddy path in the jungle, passing the occasional house and harvested field.

Every now and then, especially as we got closer to the beach, Coyote would break into a gallop and I’d freak out even more till I could rein him in. But it was rather thrilling when the jungle opened up to the beach, and we could see the vast stretch of sand and sea before us.

A bit farther down the beach was this shipwreck washed ashore! It’s split in half, and locals were salvaging it for parts to sell/reuse. From Pirate Cove, it was a small speck in the distance. I’d no clue that it was there!

We ended up riding two kilometres back along the beach, which you can only do at low tide because at high tide stretches of the beach completely disappear under the water! When we reached the Rio Drake, our horses plowed right on through again, the rushing water coming up to their bellies.

Oh! Not to make you jealous, but I did see that pair of scarlet macaws I’d been waiting for on the beach. While I was relaxing in my hammock before riding, they’d landed in the almond tree right outside my bungalow! Sigh. That’s what was so awesome about Pirate Cove and Drake Bay – wildlife was always right at my fingertips! (Luckily, wildlife wasn’t too, too close when I paddled the Drake after siesta; had I seen another caiman, I might have screamed!)

Want to see how exciting my other days in Drake Bay were? Check out…

Costa Rica, Te Extraño Hola, Drake Bay Snorkelling with Sharks

It's a Jungle Out There! Breakfast with a Toucan Lunch with a Lizard


costa rica: breakfast with a toucan

02 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in outdoors, photography, travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

DAY 4 A.M.  Ahhh, a laaazy day. I love lazy days. I’m not a lounging-on-the-beach-sipping-cocktails kinda girl, but nothin’ wrong with chilling. After the excitement of Corcovado and snorkelling, I was perfectly happy relaxing in my hammock, swimming in the ocean, walking along the beach, chasing after lizards and kayaking down the river by Pirate Cove. Lest I forget my little late-afternoon run-in with the caiman. And, hey, my day was still guided by those crazy farmer’s hours and the tides! While the other guests were frolicking out by Isla del Caño, I was savouring delicious fresh pineapple during a looong breakfast, waiting for low tide so I could cross the Rio Drake to explore the beach on the other side. That’s when the real awesomeness of Pirate Cove became apparent: how close to nature you can get!

Early morning toucan sightings were the norm on my lazy days. How cool is that? I’d be relaxing over breakfast, and this chestnut-mandibled toucan would scavenge for berries in the trees beside me. Every. Day.

Continue reading →

costa rica: it’s a jungle out there!

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in outdoors, photography, travel

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

DAY 3  So after a faaabulous day snorkelling near Isla del Caño (dolphins! sharks! stingrays!), I woke up at an even earlier ungodly hour the next day to visit one of the largest national parks in Costa Rica: Corcovado. Everything starts early in Bahìa Drake – breakfast is at 5:30 or 6 a.m. – because you have to take a boat to go anywhere, and that might take at least an hour. So everyone gets up before 6 a.m. and then goes to bed around 8 or 9 p.m. I hadn’t quite gotten used to the farmer’s hours just yet, but it was definitely easier to wake up before dawn when I had Corcovado to look forward to! Admittedly, $90 US seemed steep for a day trip to Sirena, one of four research stations in the park. But my main reason for coming to Bahìa Drake was Corcovado (National Geographic has called it “the most biologically intense place on earth”). And after seeing such an amazing array of animals (howler monkeys! squirrel monkeys! more howler monkeys!), I vouch it was worth every penny! Corcovado was absolutely the highlight of my trip.

6:10 a.m. Yawn. It was still dark when I left! As I’ve said before, Pirate Cove was a distance from the main tourist hub of Bahìa Drake. Since I was the only tourist from Pirate Cove that day, the driver had to make a special trip to pick me up before making stops farther down the coast. Yes, I’m special. Remember that.

8:05 a.m. Ohhh, panther prints! Once ashore (after about an hour-and-a-half boat ride), we split into two groups. Eight of us were whisked away by Javier, our guide, who promptly pointed out the prints. Though panthers and jaguars are sometimes spotted near Sirena, I suspect Javier was pulling our naive tourist legs…but I believed him!

9:30 a.m. Lizard! Yup, we saw lots of ’em chilling on driftwood on the beach.

9:35 a.m. The famous – and endangered – Baird’s tapir is the largest mammal in Central America. A nocturnal animal, this particular tapir can be found cooling himself in his mud hole during the day. And who could blame him? It’s darn humid in the rain forest! There was condensation in my camera lens!

10:05 a.m. Kudos to Javier, who was carrying around a heavy Swarovski telescope. He’d let us take pictures through it with our point-and-shoot cameras. Sometimes the birds were so high up, even the fancy zoom lens on my DSLR couldn’t get this close.

10:20 a.m. Like the tapir, this pair of great horned owls seemed to always be found at home and remained undisturbed by us.

10:35 a.m. My first monkey! Yay! Corcovado is the only place in Costa Rica where you can find all four species of native monkeys: the squirrel monkey, white-face monkey, howler monkey and spider monkey. To tell the truth, I hadn’t researched that beforehand, and I couldn’t tell the difference between them. Looking at pictures now, I can see their features, but at the time I could barely see them at the tops of the trees (the trick is to look for moving leaves)! Five minutes ago, I was convinced the one above was a squirrel monkey, but now I’m sure it’s a baby howler (because of its black face). Actually, now I think it’s a spider monkey!

11:03 a.m. In action! An adult howler howling! Courtesy of Javier’s telescope.

11:45 a.m. Post-lunch, which we’d eaten at the research station, we took a different trail. I’m still amazed at how huge all the plants were. Mom would be so jealous!

12:15 p.m. A squirrel monkey (I’m sure of it!), hidden behind some leaves.

12:30 p.m. Can you see them? I count five – five clumps of dark fur nestled in the branches. Howler monkeys. Later, as we were heading back to the beach to wait for our boat, we could hear them howling! I took a video just for the audio – they sounded like dogs howling at each other! Truly eerie.

12:31 p.m. My first trip to Corcovado was really all about the monkeys, though we did spot a few birds, such as this mysterious brown one.

12:37 p.m. And this one, which I’m calling a partridge, but it’s not.

12:39 p.m. While I live to cycle, hike and paddle, I willingly admit I’m a klutz and am always injuring myself. Crossing this creek didn’t not go well for me – I slipped and spent the rest of the hike in soggy boots.

12:50 p.m. But falling in the water had its perks: Javier felt sorry for me and let me get up close to this little howler squirrel monkey.

12:53 p.m. And this squirrel monkey came crazy close to us!
12:57 p.m. He was too cute!!!

1:03 p.m. Though not the coveted blue morpho (which I saw fluttering around Pirate Cove!), a blue butterfly nonetheless.

1:35 p.m. And that was my first trip to Corcovado, which ended with refreshing watermelon by the beach while we waited for our boat. I still think it’s funny how the guys get out to land and launch the boats! It took four guys (Javier’s there on the left) a few tries to use the waves to get us out to sea.