At the beginning of November I organised another tour of Costa Rica. This time it wasn’t strictly a wildlife or birding tour, it also included adventure and a bit of general tourism, but as always with Costa Rica, it was jam packed with wildlife! There is no escaping nature in this beautiful little country, there is something new to see on every new trail. After a long flight from the UK, we met our driver Marvin and our local guide Jessy Lopez (both now legends) and we overnighted in San Jose, the capital city. We had an excellent meal at La Esquina De Buenos Aires followed by a fair few drinks to feed the excitement. This is my absolute favourite restaurant in Costa Rica that I couldn’t recommend enough.

The morning soon came around and we were heading to our first destination which was Arenal Observatory Lodge, with a few stops on route to visit the Coffee plantations and see the whole process involved in making coffee from growing the bean to pouring the best cup.

We eventually arrived at the lodge and received an excellent welcome by two deadly snakes. A young yellow morph Eyelash Pit Viper that was literally hanging out on the Arenal Observatory welcome sign, followed by a Jumping Pit Viper that was on the path. A great start! We then got taken to our rooms in our own private villa in a nice secluded spot on the reserve.

Day 2 and we had an excursion booked to walk the trails of Arenal and visit the famous hanging bridges which take you on a journey through the rainforest canopy. The weather wasn’t on our side really, but we were all prepared for the rainforest and everyone was very positive despite the rain. We had some excellent sightings, with highlights being our first White-faced Capuchins of the trip, Keel-billed Motmot, White Hawk, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Crowned Woodnymph and some of the group had some mega views of Northern Tamandua. I was gutted about the Tamandua as they are one of my favourite Costa Rican animals, but there was still plenty chances to see one yet.

Following the mornings strenuous activities, we had the rest of the afternoon to relax in the superb Baldi Hotsprings, a series of hot volcanic pools fed by the Arenal Volcano, each pool equipped with a swim up bar. It was an excellent way to spend the afternoon, wallowing in steaming hot pools sipping on cocktails. We even went on the slides which were absolutely savage and catapulted you into the pool at speed. Darkness quickly drew in, as it does in the tropics and we jumped on the coach and headed back to our accommodation. I fell asleep on the drive home, and got woke up on arrival at the lodge with someone saying ‘Jay there is a cat here’. Dazed and confused I heard someone else mutter ‘that’s not a normal cat’. I eventually got my own eyes on it and it was a Margay, a very rare and elusive jungle cat. I freaked out and scrambled back the van to get my camera, then tried to locate the cat again, which was loitering around the kitchen of the lodge looking for scraps. My body was awake but my brain wasn’t working at all and I really couldn’t remember how to work a camera. It was like having sleep paralysis, but with the added pressure of having an extremely rare cat that was about to leave my sight. For some reason I was trying to get the flash on, and my camera doesn’t even have a flash haha. Anyway after 5 minutes of sheer panic I managed to compose myself and get some half decent shots even without a flash. The low light performance of my camera saved the day.

The cat was one that I have known about for a few years now, she is called Tica and she is wild but visits the lodge every so often and is completely unfazed by humans. My Costa Rican friend Sergio told a story about this cat, where she would visit the lodge, but just before arriving she would hide her kitten high up in the trees out of danger, while she looked for food. So, as you can imagine, meeting Tica for the first time was an incredibly special moment for me, and by far my favourite thing that I have ever seen in Costa Rica. She blew my mind. Her incredible markings, her massive eyes to enable her to see perfectly in pitch black, and her nonchalant behaviour all blew me away.

That night, after dinner, we decided to go on our first night walk to see what we could see around the lodge trails and gardens. All creatures great and small were out! The highlight was a pair of Spectacled Owls that came in quite close. Here are just a few of the things we saw on the trails around the lodge.

Day 3 and we had a full day adventure rafting down the Balsa river, through stunning landscapes and beautiful rainforest. We did it with Wave Rafting, who I have used numerous times and are an excellent outfit. Funny, organised, professional and know how to have a good time. The rafting was mega and we were blasting down the river at speed, working as a team to navigate the fast rapids. One of my favourite parts of it is when the rapids calm down and you can jump out of the raft, and lazily float down the river, trying to spot wildlife as you meander past. I spotted 2 sloths, Howler Monkeys, a Torrent Tyranulet, numerous Parrots, Kingfishers, Sandpipers and countless Turkey Vultures.

All in all it was another excellent stay at this superb lodge in an amazing national park which has so much to offer. Stay tuned as the next photo blog will be about our next port of call further south on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.

Although not a birding trip I did record the species that we saw, and here are my eBird checklists from Arenal:

Arenal Lodge and surrounds

Rafting

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