Hike in Tortuguero National Park

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Geo: 9.38945, -84.1347

Information about getting into the park to hike. The cost to either hike or kayak is $15 per person per day. The National Park takes credit cards but you must either produce a copy of your passport or your actual passport for them to accept your credit card.
Traveler tip: We have made laminated copies of our passport, one set of both for each of us. They are very handy to carry around because some shops ask to see proof if you are using a credit card and this is safer than carrying your passport with you at all times. Having it laminated keeps if from being ruined by rain, water or any other mishap.

Jaguar sign? After hiking along the seaside trail for 3-4 hours in the Tortuguero National Park we later learned that it is home to 20 plus jaguars, who get fat feeding on tapirs, deer, and the turtles that come to nest and have their young. The park gets its name from the thousands turtles and baby turtles that nest at three different times of the year make this one of the most desirable eco tourism destinations on the planet.

No nesting going on while we were there, but was interesting to learn about it all. Most of the jaguars apparently live beyond the marker 60 where we were told to stop hiking . We think we found some jaguar scat because it had hair in it, but who knows?

We had read the trails can be problematic if it has rained and some of the reviews we had read recommended you rent boots for the park, so we did. Turns out we did not need them but it was a safer feeling if you stepped off the trail to not worry about stepping on a snake!

Not sure of the reason but we are not seeing as many birds as we have in years past. Of course we have not been on this side of Costa Rica since the 1980's and not certain of the bird patterns as we are with birds on the Pacific side. We did see some nice birds and were rewarded with another tamandua sighting in a palm tree on the beach. We had been told where to find the tamandua by a young couple and were amazed to find it in a palm tree resting. When we went back after a break, it had woken up and was putting on a nice show for ourselves and anyone else that came up.

While looking at some of the beautiful flowering plants we saw a bumblebee or as someone mentioned the possibility, an orchid bee. Evidently in Tortuguero, the orchid bee looks very much like a bumblebee so we are not sure.

Was a nice hike but will not use the boots unless it was rained a great deal before we get there.

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Photos

tamandua napping (anteater)
was down by the beach in a palm tree

on the move
stopped to cool off and when we back to check was on the move