Day 7: A monkey touched me and I didn’t mind one bit.

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Today’s excursion (for three of us - T opted to go see La Fortuna waterfall - her take on that below) was a combo tour and volunteer at a local wildlife rescue centre, Proyecto Asis. The centre takes in injured animals or animals that were previously (illegally) kept as pets or tied up and on display at hotels/restaurants. The centre takes them in with the goal of rehabilitating them to return to the wild. If an animal cannot be rehabilitated, it has a permanent happy home with them. The property is quite big and there are also wild animals on the grounds.

It was truly fascinating to learn how much goes into rehabilitating an animal. Some birds that were kept as pets never learned to fly because they were in small cages or the owners clipped their feathers so they couldn’t. Some animals, like their Margay (a jungle cat), was kept as a pet until he got unpredictable (go figure) and is now learning how to be wild and to hunt on his own so he can be released, and the parrots (most former pets) are rehabilitated and released in flocks of about 40 because a single parrot on its own would not survive.

Of the animals being rehabilitated, we saw two types of peccarys (wild pigs), one type - the white lipped - mean and one type nice. Both, however, were stinky; two raccoons (“drunk” and baby. Drunk was hit by a car and has neurological problems so walks all wobbly, but is very happy nonetheless. He won’t likely be able to be returned to the wild), macaws, parrots, spider monkeys, white faced monkeys, toucans (one who is getting a prosthetic bill -his bill is deformed st the tip- so he can eat better); a kinkajou and a Margay.

We wrapped up the tour portion and had a small break with some lemonade by a pond on the grounds that had wild caimans, snapping turtles and boat-billed herons. We also saw a wild three toed sloth napping in some bamboo.

Afterwards we did the final chopping of the lunch for the birds, raccoons and monkeys (birds had bananas, corn and sunflower seed; monkeys and raccoons had bananas, corn, lettuce, apples, mango, lemons, oranges). We each got to enter the bird pens and put out their food buffet style. This was especially fun in the huge parrot enclosure with 40 parrots jumping down for their munchies. For the monkeys we hand fed them their cut up food one chunk at a time. Spider monkeys Jessica and Hercules has a tiff over bananas (which was hilarious), but that was the only drama. The monkeys liked the sweet stuff best (bananas and mangoes) and if you handed them a piece of corn cob, some just dropped it on the ground and put their hand out for something tastier. When Evie handed one monkey a wedge of lemon he proceeded to rub it all over his chest and stomach. Why you ask? (Cuz we did) - it’s a natural bug repellant. Smart cookie. There was a 7 month old baby spider monkey that *may* have gotten more than his fair share of banana due to his extreme cuteness. I just looooved feeding them. The centre mixes up how they feed them, so it can be a different experience. The day before the volunteers went in the pens and hid the food throughout the enclosure so the animals would have to find them to eat.

The center focuses on education and a few things our guide said everyone can do to prevent wild animals from ending up in rehab is not to buy parakeets, parrots, macaws, etc. as pets. They are not domesticated animals and are better/happier/healthier in the wild. AND if you see a hotel or restaurant that has wild animals on display, tell them you won’t go there/post on Tripadvisor. Our guide believes if a business cannot profit from keeping a wild animal, they won’t do it. If it hurts them financially, they will be motivated to surrender that animal, others will be dissuaded from doing it and over time it will disappear as a practice. He believes that where tourism is a major part of the economy, travellers can have a significant amount of sway and influence in protecting animals in the wild by engaging in and supporting ecologically responsible tourism.

My favourite quote from this guide: “remember, these wild animals are not in your backyard, we’ve moved into theirs”. He also said raccoons weren’t that bright. If a they have been going on people’s property to eat garbage, etc, if you take them away for two months they’ll completely forget there was an easy source of food there. Monkeys on the other hand can be away for years and when they are released “they’ll go right back to your place, open the fridge and make themselves a sandwich”.

T’s take on La Fortuna waterfalls

After dropping off everyone at the animal sanctuary, I went off to explore La Fortuna waterfall. It took ten minutes to walk down the 500 steps to a breathtaking view. Cristal blue water and a 70 meter waterfall surrounded by lush greenery on each side. The water was cold and refreshing and worth the dip before going back up. According to my Fitbit those 500 steps are the equivalent of 39 flights of stairs. The cost to get in was about $15 and there is absolutely no guide needed to visit the waterfalls. If you have a car rental save your money and go on your own. Once I was done, I picked everyone e up and after another delicious lunch, back to hotel for a rest.

Later in the day Prima and I went to look for sloths on the hotel hiking trails and we found a BABY SLOTH! Yes a baby sloth! At first P thought maybe it was a wasps nest but then it moved ever so slightly and we could confirm it was a baby sloth. It looked like a tribble...super cute! Best find ever.

Next up: On the road again...

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Photos

Macaw
His wing is damaged so he can’t fly. There are poles from the tree to a macaw habitat he shares with another macaw with a similar injury

wild caiman
She only comes here to lay her eggs. We saw one baby warming himself in the sun.

Comments

[Aunt Dan]

Sounds like a great trip
I'm jealous