After leaving San Juan for a multistop tour of Costa Rica, our first destination was the Caribbean coast. As it turned out, Tortuguero National Park was to provide us with the most interesting and exciting moments of our trip.
After riding in our minibus for several hours we ended up in La Pavona, a collection of small businesses on the bank of the Suerte River. Here we saw an armada of tourist boats waiting to take clients to different destinations around Tortuguero National Park. So the final leg of our journey to the Caribbean coast was to be by boat, traveling downriver to the Turtle Bay Resort. There is no way to drive to Tortuguero NP.
We had to wait for our bags to be unloaded from the roof of our minibus, then dragged them to the boats where we and our luggage were loaded, and then we were off.
The boat ride was pleasant, the speed at which we were traveling generating a nice cooling breeze. The scenery progressed from an open farming type environment, to one of a thick rain-forest.
We were excited for the chance to do some wildlife spotting, and the boat captains were very cooperative in maneuvering their crafts so that we could get decent photos. I'd never really thought too much about doing a safari by boat before, but it was fun and we actually ended up seeing a lot of different animals on what was really just a commute to our lodge. Photography from a moving boat is always challenging both in framing the image and getting a sharp focus, but I tried my best.
We spotted many iguanas hiding on the brush of the banks, the larger colorful males (top) being much more impressive than the smaller green females (below).
(iguanas)
We cam across a number of caiman sunning themselves on a beach or swimming in the river. Caiman are basically small crocodiles that have a distinctive banded coloration. Costa Rica has crocodiles as well and these can grow to be three times as long as the caiman. The chap in the top photo (below) had lost part of his tail, no doubt to some predator when he was smaller.
(Caiman)
Many turtles were sunning themselves, including this one who had ventured up a partially submerged log. I was wondering why he'd crawl so far from the water when it dawned on me that turtles are among a caiman's favorite food, so gaining a little distance was probably the safe thing to do.
There were large numbers of birds of many different species, egrets seeming to be the most plentiful...
I've discussed the green basilisk lizard in a prior blog, and this male posed beautifully, sunning himself near the river-bank. Basilisks are also known as the "Jesus Christ" lizard because they can run on the surface of the water for some distance without sinking.
(Green Basilisk Lizard)
Our rarest wildlife sighting turned out to the this Baird's tapir, the only one our guide had ever seen in the wild in more than 5 years of guiding.
(Baird's Tapir)
As we approached the park we began to see scattered tourist facilities and King coconut trees to provide the perfect beverage container...
The forest around Tortuguero Park is thick and lush -- and beautiful.
We had to maneuver up a channel to reach Turtle Bay Lodge, a nice spot right on the Caribbean Sea which we'll explore more in a future post.
This is our final approach to the lodge -- on a narrow and shallow canal through the jungle. It was a favorite spot for kingfishers and other smaller birds to perch.
We passed several trees filled with oropendola bird nests. These birds build hanging nests resembling roosting bats at a distance, with the opening to the nest near the bottom. This architecture discourages snakes from eating their eggs and chicks.
The Caribbean coast is a known breeding ground for sea turtles and these are strictly protected in Costa Rica.
More to follow quite soon.
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