In the far north of Costa Rica, almost on the border with Nicaragua, is a magical place, or at least I found it so. The Caño Negro National Wildlife Refuge is home to an immense variety of wildlife, one of the most diverse areas in this famously naturally diverse country.
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Selvatura Park is one of several private concerns in the Monteverde area that offer various experiences to explore the cloud forest. While not offering quite the pristine ‘back to nature’ experience we found at the other reserves we visited, the Children’s Eternal Rainforest and the Santa Elena Reserve, it still has a sense of wilderness in places. And as we were to discover, it has its share of wonders.
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We stayed in some wonderful hotels in Costa Rica, and all of them had gorgeous gardens. The planting was true to the environment, with native trees and bushes and a real forest vibe. When we weren’t out exploring the national parks and reserves I spent much of my time photographing the colourful flowers, remarkable trees and beautiful birds.
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Once you recognise that groups of three are visually among the most interesting photographic subjects you can find, you start to look for them everywhere. But they aren’t always easy to find. Having participated a couple of times in Mama Cormier’s Thursday Trios I was keen to join in again. So on our recent trip to Costa Rica I kept my eyes open for possible threesomes.
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The electric boat moved almost noiselessly along the Rio Nosara. The birds on the banks seemed largely unaware of our presence. The sounds of the forest were all around us. But suddenly there was a thud somewhere beneath our feet and the boat slowed, then stopped.
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Is there a mammal more intriguing, cute and downright odd than a sloth? They spend so much time hanging around in trees that they start to look like them. That makes them quite hard to spot, and even harder to photograph! To give ourselves the best chance of seeing them we booked a tour in the Arenal area called ‘Sloths and Toucans’ which promised a good look at these most iconic of Costa Rican species.
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In the cloud forest low-hanging clouds hover around the upper canopy before condensing onto the leaves of trees and dripping onto the plants below. Looking up you can barely see the sky; such is the denseness of the vegetation and the constant dripping of water. With less sunlight comes a slower rate of evaporation; the plants below thrive in the abundance of life-giving moisture.
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Keeping up my resolution of taking at least one photo a day was very easy in the first part of February and much less so towards the end of the month. For the first two weeks we were in Costa Rica and I was in travel photography heaven – and overload! When we got home however the weather was cold and I was jet-lagged. It was hard to get motivated to look for images among the familiar scenes of home after the novelties of travelling.
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Would you name a place after a notorious pirate who had ransacked your coastline and hid out here, evading capture? To our surprise we discovered that is exactly what happened here in the south west of Costa Rica; Bahia Drake is named for Sir Francis Drake.
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I didn’t go to Costa Rica to see street art; like most visitors, my main interests were in its landscapes and its wildlife. The country is famous for being one of the most biodiverse in the world. So maybe it’s not so surprising after all to see that biodiversity celebrated on the streets of Sant Elena, the main tourist hub in the Monteverde region.
