Monkeys & Macaws & Sloths, Oh My!

If you ever have an opportunity to take a guided tour through Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula, GO! We had the opportunity to see why National Geographic has called it "the most biologically intense place on Earth in terms of biodiversity".

Our day started at the beach in front of our house at 6:45AM. A boat from La Paloma backed up to the beach and we jumped on to join four other guests, two tour guides and two boat crew for the thirty minute ride southwest along the Osa Peninsula coast to the San Pedrillo Ranger Station. Once there, we all hopped off the boat and waded the last few feet to shore and up to the open-air ranger station for a briefing. The four of us were assigned Randall as our dedicated guide. Randall has been guiding nature tours through the park for over twenty years.

Once we were briefed and ready to go, the five of us walked down the beach, crossed a stream, changed into our hiking shoes and headed into the jungle. Randall took us at the speed the girls were comfortable with, pointing out flora and fauna and answering every single question any of us asked. Along the way through the rain forest and on and off the beaches, we saw a lot of plant life and wild life.

Early on we saw the wild ancestor to the pineapple, which looks just like a pineapple except it's red. It was fascinating to see 300 foot tall red mahogany trees surrounded by strangler figs, the vines you see draped down from the rain forest canopy which are actually parasites seeded in the canopy by bird and monkey poop and eventually grow to the point of killing the hosts - even if that host is a 200+ year old mahogany tree. These are fairly common and give the rain forest a very enchanted look and feel.

We took photos of much of the wildlife we saw using our phones through Randall's spotting scope.

We loved seeing the Scarlet Macaws, beautiful monogamous birds that always fly in pairs. They like to hang out in almond trees eating the nuts.

The Agoutis were cute. These are large rodents that look similar to a guinea pig. They are sometimes called "forest builders" because they bury seeds to save for later, but they have a poor memory so they lose track of them. Instead the seeds become new trees in the rain forest.

We saw a Rocket Frog, which is tiny and looks harmless but it's poisonous (this is why it's good to have a guide!).

Speaking of poison, we found a dead Bolivian Wandering Spider, one of the most poisonous spiders in the world!

Jesus Christ Lizards (sorry no photo) are fun to see. They got their name because they can walk on water.

The Slaty-Tailed Trogan is one of the birds we were able to see because Randall can seek them out and knows what he's looking for by the sound of their call.

The Tiger Heron has a really interesting texture, similar to a tiger, hence it's name.

The girls were of course excited to see a couple of Three Toed Sloths.

Oyster Catchers...

We saw several Howler Monkeys. And a Four-Eyed Opossum which was paralyzed on the rocks, which according to Randall likely means he had recently been bitten by a poisonous snake (yikes!).

When we crossed back over the river to return to the ranger station we saw crocodiles. And when we arrived we were told by the other four people in our group that they had just seen a Puma walking up the river 2 minutes earlier! They shared their photo with us.

During our break at the ranger station we had a great picnic lunch and then headed up river to see a waterfall. That hike took about 30 minutes in each direction and gave us the opportunity to swim in the the river just below the falls.

The entire trip was amazing and we were all pleasantly exhausted wading back out to the boat for the trip back to La Paloma. The view of the coastline during the ride back was really breathtaking. And to ice the cake, on the way back we saw a sea turtle next to the boat!

What a day!

Hasta la Vista.