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Published: November 8th 2012
What an incredible journey we had getting to
Monteverde from La Fortuna. As mentioned in the last blog we had been warned that it was going to be a very long and bumpy journey - and it sure was. Getting our cases from the bus to the boat was quite difficult as there was not much tarmac to pull them along, so we had to lift them, whilst at the same time trying to watch where we were walking......... Luckily a nice American tourist helped lower mine off the side of the boat after we crossed to the other side of the lake. Which was just as well as the only way off was via a very wobbly metal step perched in the mud on the edge of the lake. A minivan was waiting for when we docked and once the luggage was stored we set off with two other couples and a backpacker all from the US. It was a little cramped on the bus and the dirt track leading from the lake seemed to go on forever. It was extremely bone-jarring but we were hopeful that we were going to meet a ‘good’ road soon.......
Well we never did find any tarmac ......we proceeded along windy uneven cobbles and mud for mile after mile, climbing high into the hills but with the most tremendous vista all around. It was like travelling through a very ‘green’ Switzerland on a roller coaster, with vast fields, forests and hills all around us. After about an hour we stopped in a small ‘village’ which consisted of a couple of houses and a cafe - with a loo thank goodness after all those bumps. After a quick break and drink we were back on board and much more of the same mile after mile of bumping tracks. It really was a very uncomfortable journey but the views more than made up for it...... We eventually arrived in Santa Elena (sealed road at last for a while) and dropped our fellow travellers off at various destinations - didn’t like the look off where the backpacker was staying............ We passed through the small and quaint town before climbing again and eventually arriving at
Cabañas Los Pinos where we had booked a log cabin set in a hillside.
In total there were 13 cabins surrounded by landscaped
gardens and natural forests with each one well spaced out for complete privacy with no other accommodation in direct view. We had chosen this location because of its easy access to both
Santa Elena village (shopping) and the
Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (hiking) as well as several other smaller reserves nearby. Our cabin was located up a small incline but we were transported in a little golfing buggy with me balanced on the back with our two cases. Alas, we lost one on the way when it decided to topple off but luckily did not roll down the hill and I managed to stay on the buggy, just! We continued along a tree lined driveway and finally arrived at our our new home for the next week - it looked very quaint. It had a living room, kitchen/diner and a separate bedroom with two large beds and a small bathroom - adequate for our needs and so much more space than a hotel room. Outside there was a picnic table within a large grassed area surrounded by banana trees most of them in fruit - so plenty to eat, although the squirrels and the birds always managed to get there
before us!
We settled in and then decided to find some supplies as we intended to cater for ourselves whilst we had the facilities. We knew when we arrived that we were a little further out of town than we had anticipated though........ Getting to
Santa Elena would be no problem as it was all down hill but coming back would be long and steep - so we set off with our empty backpacks to shop! As we walked out through the gardens we noticed lots of yellow
Great Kiskadees and
Blue Tanagers in the trees as well several
Buff-throated Saltators feeding off the ripening berries. It was about a 2km walk into Santa Elena, all downhill and a bit sore on the knees. The tiny town of Santa Elena is the gateway to Monteverde and has a bus stop, a health clinic, a bank, a supermarket, a few general stores, a collection of restaurants, budget hotels, souvenir shops and tour offices. We had noticed the supermarket on our way through so headed straight there. We were quite impressed with the variety of food supplied, much better than in Samara in fact and before long
we were at the checkout with far too much to carry back up the steep 1 in 5 hill............ Luckily just as we got outside we noticed a taxi which we hailed down and manage to relay to the driver in our very basic Spanish where we wanted to go. He was great, even drove us right up to our cabin door and only charged us the equivalent of £1 which saved us a lot of blood, sweat and I am sure tears from me ......that is.............
Later we chatted to the receptionist about tours in the area and decided to visit the
Curi-Cancha Wildlife Refuge the next day with a guide. We had heard good reports of this small refuge which had only been opened a few years before and thought this would be a good place to start.
It was late in the afternoon but we decided to tackle one of the trails around the grounds and met a member of staff who was supervising the cutting down of some giant fir trees. He chatted for a while and he told us to wander up to their
Hydroponic Garden where we could pick any vegetables and herbs that we wanted and all free. The hotel used to be a family farm and they still keep the glasshouses and supply local restaurants with fresh produce and we could help ourselves whenever we wanted - there were even some lovely strawberries. Just passed the garden the trail continued to a lookout which had excellent views out over the cloud forest towards the
Gulfo de Nicoya where we had been a few weeks ago - seems ages ago now.
Early next morning our tour started at reception with a call for a taxi to take us to meet our pre-arranged guide at the entrance to
Curi-Cancha Wildlife Refuge in the Tilaran mountain range. We could not believe it but a taxi arrived within seconds of the receptionist making the call - it must have been just around the corner! The driver could not speak English but we managed to translate where we wanted to go and he proceeded to take us up a narrow track to the entrance to the park - both of us hoping that we were going the right way. However as soon
as we arrived our guide Christian Chaves came up and introduced himself to us. There was only a small entrance gate and a couple of other guides also waiting and no one else around, very quiet and peaceful. He asked us what we would like to see on our visit and we responded (tongue in cheek I might add) that we would like to see a Resplendent Quetzal as well as a Keel-billed Toucan
another equally magnificent bird of the area - we should be so lucky!
We set off with Christian who had a large spotting scope to help view the wildlife. Firstly we were greeted with an
Agouti (a large mammal related to the guinea pig) eating oranges dropping off a tree right in front of us. Moment later Christian spotted an
Emerald Toucanet high up in a tree which he quickly focussed with his spotting scope so that we could see it clearly. Two minutes later we were looking at a colourful
Orange-bellied Trogan in a tree nearby. A short walk further into the forest and we stopped again this time he spotted both two males and a female
Resplendent Quetzal in
the canopy. What can one say, it was just incredible and all we could have wished for on our first visit to the rainforest and all within 10 minutes......... Christian said that if the
wild avocado trees are fruiting with their grape-sized little avocados, the quetzals will remain in the area and therefore can be observed around the tree when they feed - so he knew roughly where to look! Later we saw a
Keel-billed Toucan another species we had hoped to see and nearby a
Bicolour Hawk surveying the forest and that was just some of the birds we saw that day. We also saw a large male
White-nosed Coati high up in the tree canopy and we only spotted him because Christian heard it dropping food to the forest floor - he knew it was not falling naturally because it was too early in the season for the fruit to drop. The coati then descended to the ground in search of the fruit it had dropped and you could hear it rustling around looking for its prize! The coati is distinct with its long mobile snout and faintly ringed tail which is nearly as long as the rest
of its body and often carried erect - it was great to see one in the wild.
Monteverde straddles the continental divide of Costa Rica and the forest’s here host a remarkable amount of biodiversity which includes nine different types of habitats, like cloud forest and montane rainforest. Due to its high altitude the area receives a regular supply of clouds and as these cling to the slopes moisture condenses on to the forest trees and drips down to the undergrowth way below. This constant level of moisture has given rise to an incredible diversity and a forest in which nearly every square inch of space has some sort of plant growing on it. This helps to support a complex ecosystem that has created a population of insects, birds, and other wildlife as well as over 2500 varieties of plants, 420 of which are orchids. As we climbed higher it was like stepping into another world, branches were ‘draped’ with epiphytic plants everywhere, blacking out any light penetration on to the forest floor. Epiphytes or air plants, reach their greatest diversity and abundance in the canopies of tropical cloud forests. These plants get their nutrients
and water, not from the soil or host trees, but directly from rain, mist and clouds. We reached a clearing with a small lookout and as it got lighter the calm of the forest changed and we were blown back by strong winds and horizontal rain - we were literally ‘in the clouds’. Christian said today was quite ‘calm’ and this area is usually encased in clouds for weeks but even today the force of the moisture-laden winds blowing in from the Atlantic coast was awesome.
As we continued through the forest we often stopped to climb over pieces of dead branches that has fallen on to the trail and Christian would point out tiny little orchids growing on the branches that we would never had seen had they still be up in the canopy. Even though the branches were dead there was so much life still clinging on to them. Some of these branches were like large ‘hanging baskets’ full of hundreds of species of bromeliads, lichens, mosses, ferns and a multitude of orchids as well. Would make a nice change at home from our summer hanging baskets full of flowering geraniums, begonias, petunias
and fuchsias - although they are lovely too............Monteverde translates as ‘green mountain’ in Spanish and the name could not be more appropriate.
We gradually descended down one of the trails to visit a small
Hummingbird sanctuary near the entrance to Curi Cancha where they have feeders hanging from the trees to attract the small birds that are so vital to life here. As we approached we spotted a male
Red Brocket Deer and managed to get a good photograph before it galloped off into the forest. Christian did not notice the deer as he was behind a tree and Paul and I both thought it was a tame one as it was near the entrance. It was not, and was quite rare, so we made Christian’s day when we showed him the photo - he said we were very lucky to get so close. He had been guiding here for many years and had never had such a close encounter, only usually seeing the rear end as they shy away from humans and disappear in the forest. He thought that the wind must have been the ‘right way’ for us to get such a good
view and insisted that we show the photo to the manager of the reserve before we left. The Red Brocket Deer is the largest of all brocket deer. Named for its foxy red coat, this stout bodied deer with slender limbs has white fur on the inside of the legs, throat, lips, inner part of the ear and the lower part of the tail. Young red brockets have whitish spots on their coat a bit like ‘bambi’. Like the majority of deer species the males have antlers, but they are generally only short, dagger-like spikes and looked white on the one we saw.
Back at the park entrance we did indeed show the manager our picture and he was thrilled - so we promised to send a copy to him. We chatted for a while before it was time to head ‘home’. Our guide Christian’s wide knowledge not only of the flora and fauna but also the fragile ecosystems gave us a good education on how a cloud forest works. We would highly recommend Christian to anyone visiting the area as he was just superb from the moment we met him - he even gave
us a lift back to our log cabin which was most kind and saved a lot of ‘extra’ leg work.........
Looking back on our day we were so pleased that we were able to see a
Resplendent Quetzal which is probably the most colourful and spectacular bird in the tropics. One of the reasons we had decided to visit Monteverde was the chance of spotting one and to get a sighting first time was amazing........The pigeon sized male had such intensity and brilliant contrasts from its colours that shone and glittered through the trees. It was quite high up though and we could not get a very clear photo but have included a one in this blog. The rich red of its belly contrasted with the shining iridescent green of its head and upper chest. Its head was crowned with a narrow crest of upstanding thin feathers that looked like it had just had a
mohican hair cut! I loved the way the pointed tips of its wings projected over its crimson sides making a little pattern down each side. The most noticeable part though were its central tail feathers which stretch beyond its tail
like two slender green pendants which apparently flitter when it flies. We did not get a good view of these though as the closer male that we saw had shed his. You will have probably seen these magnificent tail feathers as they are seen on ancient sculptures and modern paintings and were highly valued as personal adornments by the
Aztecs and the Maya nobility. We were surprised that the Quetzal was not the national bird of Costa Rica but of nearby Guatemala. The national bird of Costa Rica is the
Clay-coloured Thrush (previously known as the Clay-Coloured Robin) which is strange in a
country teeming with colouful birds like macaws, motmots, toucans, and tanagers that they have chosen a very plain brown bird (a bit like out female blackbird). However it was chosen for its wide range and tendency to live close to humans, often being mentioned in Costa Rican folk songs and also because the males are cherished for their exquisite song during the breeding season.
We had settled into our cabin at Los Pinos and there was so much to do in the area that we decided to stay for another week to
enable us to visit other reserves particularly the
Monteverde Biological Cloud Forest Reserve and the
Children’s Eternal Rainforest which was both nearby - see you there.
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Sue
non-member comment
WOW is certainly not enough!
Looks as if you are having a fantastic time. The birds/wildlife and local colour all look amazing. Definitely encouraging to head there next winter. We have just completed Nile cruise which Jim handled well and now we are having a week in Luxor before returning to UK for 4 days and flying to Singapore on 25th. Hope the fun continues for you, stay safe and keep the photos coming, love to you both, Jim & Sue