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Published: June 26th 2006
Entrance to Snake Farm
I'd look like this too, if I was bit by the Fer De LanceOur first stop in the Monteverde / Santa Elena region was the Serpentarium (Snake Farm). It was quite an experience in more ways than one. There was a room full of nothing but Boa Constrictors in all sizes, shapes, and ages. I was so intrigued photographing them, that I wasn't aware of what I almost stepped on. I was backing up to take a photo when I heard this loud hissing that resembled a cat hissing. I turned around and looked, I was about to step on a pregnant Boa Constrictor. The old saying of "If Mama ain't happy, no one's going to be happy". In this case, this saying is true, because Mama to be wasn't too happy with me. It could've been worse, she could've given me a "squeeze".
There were all kinds of snakes including: an Eyelash Viper; Coral Snake; and the dreaded Fer De Lance. It's not uncommon in the coffee fields of Costa Rica that the workers are bitten by the Fer De Lance. If one is bitten by the Fer De Lance, they must receive anti-venom in 4 hours or death will result. The Fer De Lance moves rather quickly. There were also several
Mama Boa
I got hissed at. species of frogs including the Red-Eye Leaf Frog.
Costa Rica has 15 different species of venomous snakes, among which are the fer de lance, the godman montane pit viper, slender hognosed pit viper, jumping pitviper, black speckled palm pit viper, eyelash palm pit viper, the rainforest hognosed pit viper, side palm pit viper, the mute rattler, neo tropical rattlesnakes, cantils, corals, red tailed coral snake, chinilla, and selagic sea snake.
The snake farm is a great place to visit when you're in the Monterverde area.
One of the most anticipated events of my trip would be the whitewater rafting! I chose the Pacuare river.
The Pacuare is the most popular river for whitewater rafting in Costa Rica, it has also been named one of the top 10 river trips in the world by National Geographic. Within these gorges, the rafting experience can range up to Class V in difficulty.
Along its course lie several densely vegetated gorges which shelter jaguars, ocelots, monkeys, sloths, and an incredible variety of birds. In my blog for Costa Rica, I don't have pictures of Sloths, Monkeys, or the birds because I didn't have a camera with a zoom lens,
therefore they came out looking like "specks" in the photos that I did take.
One huge mistake I made on this rafting trip, is I bought some cheap, yellow rubber slip-on shoes at Walmart. Sometimes cheap isn't smart. We had to take a short hike down to our rafts, and these cheap rubber shoes had no cushions on the bottom. Every step I took on the sharp rocks was a bit uncomfortable, I won't mention the cuss words I uttered. I didn't know about Tevas until I met up with a couple of others on the trip. I now own a pair of Tevas.
The rafting trip was exciting! We came close to overturning our boat once or twice. In the month of June, the water is at its highest level. There was a calm spot along the river where our guide let us out of our rafts and we could float down the river! The temperature was cool but not cold.
We camped overnight and wrapped up the rafting at the end of the day. Rafting is a must for anyone visiting Costa Rica!
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anonymous
non-member comment
nice pics .. good job