Costa Rica and Panama 1/5-18/2024

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

January 7; Monteverde Cloud Forest, Costa Rica

Our group of 11, our NatGeo guide (Cesar), and our bus driver got an early start as we headed to the Monteverde cloud forest. I kept watching for birds as the bus was moving, and saw lots of vultures (a few Turkey but mostly Black), pigeons, and doves. All of a sudden, our driver hit the breaks. He saw something he thought we should see. Perched together on a concrete wall just along the road was quite a sight for us.

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Wood Stork

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Juvenile White Ibis

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Snowy Egret

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Roseate Spoonbill

Well, that was a great start to the day. We made a stop about half way up to the cloud forest, and I got a few shots of a flying Gray Hawk. A bit farther up the road, we saw our first monkeys of the trip.

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Gray Hawk

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White-faced Capuchin Monkey

We finally arrived at the El Establo Lodge where we would be spending two nights. The lodge appeared to be fairly new. It was built on a steep slope, and there were multiple buildings along the slope of 20 guest rooms each. Going to meals required catching a shuttle or taking our tour bus because of the steep terrain. We ate at three different places in the lodge. Two of them were mediocre at best, but the fine dining restaurant was excellent. Our room was really strange. There was enough room for 3-1/2 queen size beds, but we had 2 beds, and the rest of the room was empty. There was no closet, no drawers, and no hooks on the walls, so we lived out of our suitcases on the floor. There were only a few small lights (other than in the bathroom), so it was difficult to see anything in the evenings. There was no air conditioning or heat. Two small windows above large glass windows overlooking the cloud forest could be opened and had screens, but the only other small windows we could open (in the bathroom) did not have screens. It got quite chilly at night.

After lunch and getting settled, we traveled to the Monteverde Cloud Forest private reserve. Our primary target bird was the Resplendent Quetzal, and we soon saw one. Unforunately, the bird was backlit and had its back to us, its head was mostly hidden by leaves, and there was light drizzle.

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Resplendent Quetzal

We continued along the trail, and saw quite a few birds. At one point, Cesar stopped us. For about 10 feet along the trail, thousands of army ants were on the move and crossing the trail. We waited for about 10 minutes, and when the number of ants diminished, we, at one at a time, ran quickly over the ants, and then stopped to make sure none of the ants were on our shoes or legs.

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Army ants

The trees and vegetation in the cloud forest were extremely dense, and Cesar pointed out several interesting facts about the botanical aspects of the forest. What amazed me the most were the tree sized ferns that were millions of years old. Most of the trail was very dark with little sun reaching below the tree canopies.

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Tree Fern