North West Costa Rica

Trip Start Jan 26, 2005
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Trip End Ongoing


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Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Having arrived in Costa Rica on the 5th April, we spent a couple of days in Liberia, the regional town. Had to sort out a 4x4 and get all the camping stuff for the next few weeks. Our first stop was Santa Rosa NP, a dry forest on the Pacific Coast. We thought the road would be tough but the dirt track soon turned into just bedrock, with huge bolder to negotiate, crossing dry rivers and eventually after 25km we reached the Pacific. We pitched our $40 tent, set up camp before checking out the sunset... cooking in the dark attracted a few bugs and raccoons. A multitude of wildlife surrounded the camp area ranging from iguanas to scrounging raccoons and deer that would look good on any bbq but I suspect that it would be frowned upon! Watched the sunset and the surfers for a while before setting up camp and the first meal. Slept about 2 hours because of the heat then up at 4.30am to follow the trail through the dry forest to the watering hole, where there were supposed to be lots of mammals drinking - we only found mozis, so didn't stay long 1 Early Morning Trek
1 Early Morning Trek
 . Had breakfast on the beach watching the hermit crabs and trying to persuade them to come out of their shells. Back to the camp and cooled off in the ocean. The waves were bigger than I thought, I got sand in places I didn't even know existed!

After a tough night we headed 100km south to a plush villa with pool and views of the ocean. Relaxed their, enjoyed the air con and saw a fantastic sunset before headed back to the hot sweaty forest. This time to a wetland area called Palo Verde and camped again, very hot and lots of bugs. Took a trip down the river, to see what we could find, just the two of us and a guide. Lots of herons and ibexes and hawks and a couple of crocs. Humming birds and iguanas sunning themselves in the trees by the river. The highlight was seeing a pair of (rare) scarlet macaws flying overhead. At the campground the toilet looked as if they were last cleaned in 1987, but loads of animals foraging under a mango tree 20m away, which was some consolation. There were 2 types of monkey, one of which took a dislike and defecated on the tent! Also deer, peccaries, raccoons, agoutis (dog size guinea pigs), a couple of non-venemous snakes and a 4ft iguana. We took a night stroll looking for wildlife and saw the eyes of a small cat, probably a Jaguarundi. Also opossums & other small mammals Tried to follow it into the undergrowth but it disappeared... went walking the trails both days looking for other wildlife with varying success!

Finally we headed back to an aircon room with pool to recover from the heat. Then onto a cat sanctuary, Las Pumas where they take in cats which are held illegally. Jaguars, Pumas, Ocelots, Margays, Oncillas and Jaguarundis all featured. Good to see them as we are unlikely to get a good view of them in the wild. They also breed small mammals to release into their cages for lunch. Speaking of which, must dash.....
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