Costa Rica - Monteverde
While beach and sun are all well and good, I was eager to make the drive north to the Monteverde region. Monteverde is located on the Continental Divide, where the Caribbean and Pacific slopes meet, and is famed for its cloud forests.
It was about 2.5 hours from Jacó, so with a relatively early start, we were able to have a leisurely drive. We stopped not far out of town by a bridge over the Tarcoles River (Puente de Cocodrilo), aptly named for the plethora of huge crocodiles that loiter along the sandy river banks. We had breakfast at a little roadside diner before walking over the bridge and gazing down at the crocs sunning themselves. I was particularly amused by one next to a white boater hat—just imagining all manner of grisly stories around the untimely end of its owner. We also managed to spot a pair of scarlet macaws having a feisty conversation by the side of the road.
From there, it was an absolutely stunning drive into the mountains, along increasingly winding, disreputable roads. They were strikingly pot-holed, which definitely kept us alert. But views of wildflowers and green hills and wisps of clouds rolling through the valley more than made up for the bumpy journey.
We eventually arrived in Santa Elena, the main town servicing the surrounding forest reserves, and made our way to the Rainbow Valley Lodge. I was more than pleased with our charming cabin, perched on the valley’s edge with sweeping views of the surrounding mountains. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Monteverde, with its crazy winds that would rattle the cabin and tasty eateries, including Tico y Rico, where we enjoyed one of our best Costa Rican meals (casado, a plate of rice, beans, protein, salad, cheese, and a fried plantain). Naturally, we befriended the local pups, including the Lodge’s elderly Doberman, who seemed surprisingly spry for a dog who had been hit by a car three times, and a stray pup on a restaurant patio, who I dubbed Monty (for Monteverde).
Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve
Our first experience with cloud forests was the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, a community-run reserve managed by a local high school. Back in 1992, a non-profit called Youth Challenge International collaborated with the Costa Rican government and created this project. It’s typically passed over in favour of its more famous neighbour, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, which meant the trails were wonderfully quiet.
Cloud forests are rare (covering less than 1% of the world’s forest area). They are a product of warm winds from the Atlantic Ocean, cooling and condensing when they hit the mountains, causing thick clouds and considerable amounts of moisture. It was amazing to have gone from clear blue skies in Santa Elena town and drive a relatively short distance into the mist and rain. It made it incredibly atmospheric. I felt a bit like I was in Lord of the Rings walking through Fangorn Forest, half-expecting these massive trees to come alive.
I don’t think I’ve ever been in so lush a place—every square inch just dripping with plant life. As we were there at midday, we didn’t spot any wildlife, but it was enough to soak in the atmosphere. On a clear day, one can purportedly see all the way to Arenal Volcano (we trooped up a tall lookout tower to check, but unsurprisingly, the dense mist and clouds made visibility limited, to say the least).
Night Wildlife Hike
I had read somewhere that something like 70% of Costa Rica’s wildlife is nocturnal. Not sure as to the veracity of that statistic, but we certainly knew that we would need to do at least one nighttime wildlife tour. We met our guide, along with our four other tour companions, at a reserve just outside of Santa Elena town at dusk. There were a host of other tours heading out around the same time—apparently the tour guides have a WhatsApp group where they can alert each other to wildlife sightings in the area.
Our guide had a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the different Costa Rican flora and fauna. We learned that Costa Rica is home to 5% of the world’s biodiversity, and the Monteverde region makes up a staggering 2.5% of it!
As night descended, we made our way along the well-kept trails, illuminating them with provided flashlights (though ours stopped working halfway through). Our guide toted his spotting scope and would occasionally set it up to bring some distant bird or animal into view. We saw venomous snakes, a colourful toucan, multiple birds (many of whom looked like headless puff balls as they were sleeping), and even a sleeping howler monkey with her baby. How he spotted a black monkey high up in a tree some distance away in the darkness is beyond me.
Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve
The major draw in the area is of course the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. At over 10,000 hectares, it is rife with biodiversity, with 400 different bird species, 100 species of mammals, and over 2500 species of plants, including the highest number of orchid species in one place. We had last-minute booked a guided wildlife tour for 1 pm, but we headed over in the morning to do our own walk-about. The reserve’s parking lot is located about 1.5 km from the entrance. When we arrived, we discovered the reserve was full at the moment, but we could put our name down for the next time slot in an hour. So we drove up to the entrance to get on the waiting list, back down to the parking lot to park, and took their shuttle bus back up.
We bided our time walking around the hummingbird garden and watched the tiny colourful birds flitting around, zooming past our heads with indifference. Eventually, we waited amongst the growing crowd of people, and they called off the names on the waiting list to go and pay and receive our fob cards.
By mid-morning, we were finally on our way. There are a number of trails in the park, and it was a bit of a crapshoot in choosing which one to take, as we didn’t know which trails our guide would later take us on. The sun had come out, which was a lovely contrast in the feel of walking through this versus the misty, rain-soaked Santa Elena Reserve. We employed our well-worn tactic of loitering near guided tours to see what they might be looking at, which actually paid off in our sighting of a female Resplendent Quetzal. While not as vibrant and iridescent as their male counterparts, we were still pleased to have seen one of Costa Rica’s most famous birds.
Near the end of our morning excursion, we opted to take a short loop trail near the entrance of the reserve. This was a fortunate choice, as it was there we had our very own wildlife sighting: white-nosed coatis (or coatimundi). I’d spotted a rustle in the trees and saw something leap through the air—I originally thought it might be a monkey. It eventually clambered into view, walking surprisingly close to us. Dave and I spent a long time amusedly watching what eventually became two coatis scamper about the trees.
We laughed at the antics of one of them, who we declared didn’t seem to be very good at being a coati (see video below). It scrambles up the tree to stare at its likely sibling nosing around for food on the forest floor, and then rather awkwardly slides down the tree, occasionally getting wedged between tree trunks, before finally making it to the ground. I’ll permit him his awkwardness—it can be hard to look cool in front of gawking onlookers!
Buoyed by our wildlife sighting, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the cafe before meeting up with our tour guide. Given that it was an afternoon tour, I wasn’t really surprised that we did not see much in the way of wildlife. We did certainly find some things: insects, tarantula, butterflies, and such. A long time was spent (sometimes perhaps too long) craning our necks looking up at tree branches in search of some elusive bird or other. But it was still interesting to learn about the different flora and fauna and history of the place. And who doesn’t enjoy a beautiful walk along a sun-dappled trail through the forest? I also really appreciated that we were able to see cloud forests in two distinct weather conditions, both in the rain and mist (for which it’s known) but also in full sunlight, as the forests look completely different.
El Tigre Waterfalls
On our final day in Monteverde, we had a few hours before needing to start the long drive west to Tamarindo, so we decided to stop in at El Tigre Waterfalls, a private forest preserve rife with waterfalls. The weather was blustery and rainy, which didn’t really matter once we were in the trees. I grabbed one of the wooden walking sticks on offer at the entrance, which my knees are always grateful for.
If we hadn’t yet had our fill of hanging bridges and waterfalls, this place was surely enough to sate us: we traipsed past four waterfalls and across ten bridges over the course of the 8 km hike. I really loved scampering across a series of bridges in succession, kind of made me feel like I was in some kind of jungle city, where these were just its sidewalks.
The final 3 km of the hike, where people do have the option (for a fee) of taking a horse or 4x4, is an uphill slog, mostly along a gravel road. Being out of the trees, the wind-whipped rain was less enjoyable, but eventually we made it back to the compound and enjoyed a spot of lunch before embarking on our drive west.
