Nature walk and Zip wiring
Trip Start
Nov 29, 2007
1
82
115
Trip End
Jun 24, 2008
Where I stayed
Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve,
Costa Rica
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Well our guide was great, he obviously knew a lot about the plants and the trees but we did not see anything worth writing about - Nothing - Zilch - Nada!!!!!
We did see lots of plants and trees and we had a lovely morning walk, but I could have done that in Barrow Upon Soar!!! In fact I reckon I would have seen more wildlife in Barrow than we saw on our incredibly expensive nature tour. We did see a huge rat like creature and some African killer bees, through the telescope, a few millipedes and some daddy long legs!!!! No birds, none, let alone a Toucan
A view of the Cloud Forest
. Needless to say we were a little disappointed, but we did get to see a cloud forest and it was very beautiful.After our disappointing morning we decided to retreat to our room and wait for the Zip wiring with Extremo adventures!!! We got picked up at 1.30pm and went to the place. The guides we had were great, really patient and very understanding that not just me, but a few of us were a little nervous. There was 6 of us all together.
In total we zipped 14 lines, the first 2 were pretty short but the 3rd one was massive!!! Epi and I went together on the 3rd one, which was actually quite scary as it felt like he was going to pull me off the zip wire!
Despite my fear of heights I loved it. It was more scary climbing the stairs to the wires and walking over the suspended bridges than it was actually whizzing down the lines!
Just as I was getting my confidence up, so the stakes were raised. First came the Tarzan swing. This was a massive rope that swung way out over the trees, you had a small platform that you had to jump off, whilst holding very tightly onto the rope
The Howler monkey watching us!!!
. The thing was the you didnīt just swing out all nice and calmly, you dropped a good few feet first and then swung out at what felt like the speed of light!!!!Epi was trying to tell me that I didnīt have to do it, but there was no way I was not going to give it a try. So I stepped up to the platform, as I stood on the edge looking at the huge drop before me I didnīt think I could do it. But the guide told me I would be fine and he would count me down. He said ONE and then pushed me!!! Probably a good job as we might still be there now. It was terrifying, I swung so high and it was like a bungee jump because they left me swinging there. When I got down I was shaking, but felt great too. I ran back up to the platform to grab the camera from Epi in time to do a video of him too - even he was scared!
I canīt really explain the feeling of flying over a cloud forest with the birds flying below you and the monkeys watching you in the trees, at the same height as you - it must be great entertainment for them!!!
We were on a high for the rest of the day and even had a glass of wine with our pasta dinner. Early to bed as we are up early to catch the bus to Liberia.
