Arenal To Monteverde “Jeep-Boat-Jeep”

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Tara

This is one of the times when transport is more of an excursion in itself. If you book it from a hotel in Arenal, you will hear it called “jeep-boat-jeep” probably sounding something like “jeebojeep”. You can also book it online where it is called “taxi-boat-taxi” but there seems to be no problems with getting space, we booked the day before we traveled. It costs $25 per person and is well worth it considering you not only save time getting to Montverde, it’s a much prettier trip!

Actually there are no jeeps involved though I think they were in the past. Nowadays, you will be picked up at your lodge in a minibus and driven to the launch point in the lake. Please note how you have to carry your bag down a rocky path so using a backpack is an advantage.

Once the boat is full, you take off for a very pleasant and scenic trip across the lake. On a clear day, you can see Arenal Volcano! The day we went was very cloudy and it rained halfway across the lake so we had only fleeting glimpses.

Once you reach the other side, you will be transferred into another minibus. They will allocate one to you such as A, B or C. The road to Monteverde is equally as scenic but the road is a lot rougher. For a brief minute, we had a nice view of Arenal Volcano before it got covered by clouds again.

You can barely see Arenal in the background

Up until now, there will have been no bathroom stops nor is there one on the boat so I recommend going easy on the coffee at breakfast! About 30km out of Monteverde, we stopped at a small restaurant/gift shop as many people needed the facilities.

After using them, I heard a parrot squawking nearby and was hoping to see a wild one. I was half right. He WAS a wild parrot, a Yellow-naped Amazon/Parrot to be precise; but no longer. His wings were clipped so he couldn’t fly. He walked along the beams and looked at us with curiosity but didn’t want to come any closer. I just wish there was some way to free him as he belongs with his family flying free in the rainforest, but without the ability to fly it would be useless as he can’t evade predators.

After everyone had finished using the bathrooms, they called us back and we proceeded to the town of Monteverde where everyone was taken direct to their accommodation.

Lodge Review: Volcano Lodge, Arenal, Costa Rica

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Tara

The Arenal/La Fortuna area is the prime tourist destination in Costa Rica. There is something for everyone here-volcano viewing, hot springs, zip-lining, nature hikes. Birding here isn’t as good as other places in Costa Rica but Arenal made a nice rest stop in between birding trips.

The lodge is a fair ways out of town but that won’t matter if you use tourist shuttles as they drop you off and pick you up.

The Volcano Lodge has amazing views of Arenal and beautiful gardens and hiking trails. I chose this place because it was the halfway part of our trip and thought we could use a time-out to relax in the jacuzzi and enjoy some light bird watching on the grounds. The rooms were fairly large and we got a great one near the reception with a volcano view from the window!

We saw some Hummingbirds, Oropendulas and Greater Kiskadees in the garden and the flowers were gorgeous!

I really liked the artwork in the restaurant/bar/pool area and the food was really good too! We had lunch, went for a swim, then relaxed in the jacuzzi for awhile. We were planning to go birding in the afternoon but our plans got rained out. We still had a good time chatting with other tourists as we hung out in the bar for happy hour watching the rain pour down.

The next morning, the weather was nice but we had already booked the onward transportation so only had time for a short walk. We didn’t see any new birds from the day before, just the usual Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds so we headed down for breakfast which was included in the price and very good!

You can easily book this lodge on their website or use an online hotel booking site such as Pointshound, Expedia, Hotels.com.

How to get to Costa Rica with airline miles

Costa Rican Bird Route

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Tara

The Costa Rican Bird Route is the first birding trail of its kind in Central America. Located in the northern region of Costa Rica, this ecotourism project offers a variety of bird watching and nature tourism opportunities. The Bird Route consists of 18 nature reserves specifically chosen for their high diversity of bird species. Most importantly, this region hosts the last remaining habitat in Costa Rica for the endangered Great Green Macaw (Ara ambiguus). The Costa Rican Bird Route offers the best opportunity to view this species on the planet! Use your miles for a Central American award to get here!

On our trip, we visited two of the lodges on the Bird Route: Selva Verde & Laguna del Lagarto.

SUPPORT THE BIRD ROUTE

1. Visit the Bird Route The success of this project is dependent on sustained tourism to the sites involved, so come explore all that the Bird Route has to offer.

2. Make a Donation. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Costa Rican Bird Route project using the secure Paypal button here. Donations are used to support the efforts of the private landowners. This includes assistance with producing brochures, maintaining websites, creating signs, etc. Money will also be used for continuous education efforts within the communities of the Bird Route. Rainforest Biodiversity Group is looking to implement bird education curriculum within these communities as well as fund future workshops for the landowners.

3. Volunteer. Rainforest Biodiversity Group is looking for volunteers to work with the private landowners of the remote sites of the Bird Route, assisting them in developing their land for eco-tourism. These newly created reserves are at varying stages of development as eco-tourism sites.

Golden-hooded Tanager (Tangara larvata)

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Tara

The Golden-hooded Tanager (Tangara larvata) is a neotropical species that inhabits humid forest and forest edges. It belongs to the speciose genus Tangara and is often considered to belong to a superspecies with the Masked Tanager (Tangara nigrocincta) and Blue-necked Tanager (Tangara cyanicollis).

This tanager is a resident breeder from southern Mexico south to western Ecuador. Some of the easiest places to see this beautiful little tanager is at Selva Verde Lodge & Laguna del Lagarto Lodge in Costa Rica. Use an award to Central America to get to San Jose. The lodges can organize a private shuttle or you can use the local buses to get there. They are also frequently seen in Soberania National Park in Panama as the video clips below show.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS BIRD

Wikipedia

Birdlife

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Selva Verde

VIDEOS

This is an adorable video of a baby Golden-hooded Tanager fledging. I love how he works up his courage, then takes off!

This adult is preening, perhaps getting ready for his close-up!

Here’s a hungry little guy!

Brown-hooded Parrot (Pyrilia haematotis)

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Tara

The Brown-hooded Parrot (Pyrilia haematotis) is a small parrot which is a resident breeding species from southeastern Mexico to north-western Colombia. Until recently, it was placed in the genus Pionopsitta, which now is restricted to the type species, the Pileated Parrot. It is sometimes considered conspecific with the Rose-faced Parrot (P. pulchra). This species has been adversely affected by deforestation.

It is found in lowlands and foothills locally up to 1600 m altitude in forest canopy and edges, and adjacent semi-open woodland and second growth. The white eggs are laid in an unlined nest, usually a natural cavity in a tree.

Although their range extends from Mexico to northern Colombia, the easiest place to see this beautiful parrot is at Laguna del Lagarto Lodge in Costa Rica. Use an award to Central America to get to San Jose, then the lodge has a shuttle to transfer you there. It’s quite a remote area.

This species is presumed to have declined over much of its range due to deforestation, but it is still rated as “least concern” by IUCN.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PARROT

Wikipedia

World Parrot Trust

Birdlife

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

VIDEO

Getting Around Costa Rica

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Tara

There are basically 3 types of transport in Costa Rica: Public transport such as buses & ferries, tourist shuttles and rental cars.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

By far the cheapest mode of transport and very easy to use. You can see the bus we took from San Jose to Sarapiqui for Selva Verde. There are a couple of websites to help you plan your bus trips which give the timings. The fares of the buses we took were all pretty cheap, around $5-10.

Visit Costa Rica has a complete schedule which is very handy to estimate the time to get from place to place.

You can also search for specific routes and schedules here.

In many cases you will have to transit San Jose so you should be aware that there isn’t a central bus station. If you come from the airport in Alajuela, you will get dropped at the Alajuela terminal. Then you have to get a taxi to the Caribe bus station which will cost around $3. Luggage can go under the bus or if it is small, you can carry it on. I always carried on my backpack that had all my camera gear!

TOURIST SHUTTLES

These are more expensive than the public buses as you may expect. They are also a lot more convenient as they will pick you up at your hotel/lodge and drop you off at your accommodation in your destination and they can accommodate your luggage. We used one from Selva Verde to Laguna del Lagarto, then it picked us up again and took us to Arenal. There are several tourist shuttle companies. They cost the same whether you book them online or let the lodge book them so I tended to let the lodge book them so they would get a small commission. Most lodges will have the details on their websites.

If you don’t know where you are staying or want to book online, here are a few companies.

Costa Rica Shuttle

Tropical Tours Shuttle

Grayline

In this case, we did use this company from Monteverde to Carara. Since Carara isn’t in the list, I had to use the call centre and they just put a random hotel in. I explained to the driver that we wanted to jump out at Villa Lapas which is enroute and was expecting to be left on the road but he took us all the way to the lodge. It’s about $55 per person. If the daily timings don’t suit you, you can book a private shuttle which seems to be around the cost of 4 normal tickets. Not all of the shuttles have Wifi but the one from Limonal to Jaco did so it helped pass the time.

RENTAL CARS

This is what I really agonized over before deciding to go with shuttles & public buses. I did a lot of research online and found threads like this one on Trip Advisor with lots of horror stories.

Corrupt police wanting bribes
Scams with rental companies falsely accusing you of damaging the car
Bad roads that do damage the car
Accidents
Overcharging insurance/high deductables
Criminals causing a flat tire, then they rob you while you are changing it
Break-ins at tourist attractions, hotels & restaurants

I just wasn’t up to it and when I did the math if we used mostly public buses with shuttles to places the buses don’t go it was roughly the same cost and less stressful. I’ll let these guys explain it.

Birds Of Laguna Del Lagarto: Tanagers, Woodpeckers, Other Birds

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Tara

Since there are so many photos, I am breaking this up into separate posts. There are other posts for information on how to get to Costa Rica & Laguna del Lagarto.

Bird List of Laguna del Lagarto

This is the final post in the Laguna del Lagarto series. Unfortunately I lost the checklist I made with the help of the guides at Laguna del Lagarto so this is from memory as to which birds I saw. If I find the checklist, I will come back to this post and update it. I do remember some of the Tanagers but not all of those tiny but gorgeous birds are Tanagers. The Woodpeckers are especially cute! Enjoy the photos and if you can help me identify any of these birds please do so in the comments!

Woodpeckers

OTHER BIRDS

If I can find my notes, I would be able to identify more of these. Some of the little green birds are the females and they look very similar.

Currasow

MONTEZUMA OROPENDULA

I think this is a

I love this little guy’s red feet!

Birds Of Laguna Del Lagarto: Hummingbirds

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Tara

Since there are so many photos, I am breaking this up into separate posts. There are other posts for information on how to get to Costa Rica & Laguna del Lagarto.

Bird List of Laguna del Lagarto

These spectacular little birds are often called “flying jewels” because of their brilliant irridescent colouring. Unfortunately I lost the checklist I made with the help of the guides at Laguna del Lagarto so this is from memory as to which hummingbirds I saw. The ones at the lodge were Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds. The ones at Adolfo’s home garden (feeders) are highlighted in yellow to the best of my memory. If I find the checklist, I will come back to this post and update it. Humming birds are slightly easier to photograph than parrots because they are at least closer. But they sure are fast!

Lodge Review: Laguna Del Lagarto Rainforest Lodge

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Tara

The Laguna del Lagarto Rainforest Lodge is one of the holy grails for dedicated birders. It’s located in an unspoiled and virtually unvisited tropical rainforest, where you can explore the eco-system at your own pace while staying at a cozy jungle hideaway. Birds are literally everywhere, just my kind of place!

HOW TO GET THERE

Getting to Costa Rica is simple with a Central American award flight. The map below shows the route from the airport in case you want to hire a car and drive yourself. Don’t laugh, but I was not brave enough to drive in Costa Rica (more about that later) and preferred to use either public buses or tourist shuttles. On the map below, the red dot is roughly in the area of Selva Verde where the shuttle came to pick us up.

If you add in the insurances and the cost of the rental car and petrol/gas it’s not really that big a difference in cost. I quite enjoyed the shuttle as it meant I could relax, look out the window and enjoy the ride through the countryside. Just email Laguna del Lagarto and let them know when and where to pick you up from the options on their website.

We finally arrived at Laguna del Lagarto in the early afternoon. I think it took around 3 hours-ish. The road was pretty rough so I was glad I wasn’t driving and possibly messing up the undercarriage of a rental car.

The friendly manager, Adolfo came and greeted us and chatted to my husband while I filled in the registration forms. I had prepaid the room on Pointshound to earn miles but was pleased to learn they take Amex for incidentals such as meals, guides, the shuttle costs and souvenirs.

Rooms are very simple but here it’s all about the view! You can sit on your deck overlooking the rainforest for some lazy birding as they are everywhere! The guides here are fantastic! They really know the local birds and speak English pretty well. We had Didier as our guide and he went out of his way to find birds, especially parrots, even chasing us down at breakfast so we wouldn’t miss a passing flock of Olive-throated Parakeets. You can use the canoes free of charge if you like. I personally preferred to just walk around the grounds or hang out on the deck where the roof protected you from rain even as more birds came to frolic.

Towel animals!

This was the only sighting of a Great Green Macaw, off in the distance, seen from our deck.

It’s not just a room with a view, it’s a dining room with a view! Buffets are served at breakfast and sometimes for dinner unless there are only a few people, then they bring you a very full plate of delicious food. Lunch is either sandwiches or a full meal but with the heat of the day most people don’t want a heavy meal at lunch. Wireless internet (WIFI) is offered in the reception and restaurant area. It’s slow but adequate to check your emails. Besides, it’s more fun to sit back and watch the birds eating their bananas on the adjacent viewing deck!

Ina shows the guides how Cook Islanders open a coconut!

HOW TO BOOK LAGUNA DEL LAGARTO

You can either email them direct from their website or book on some hotel aggregators such as Pointshound, Hotels.com, Expedia. Prices are extremely reasonable. I wish I had more time to stay longer as this place had amazing bird watching!

MORE PHOTOS OF THE LODGE

Don’t worry, bird photos are coming on separate posts. I have so many, it will take a couple posts.

Front and back view of our bungalow.

The Birds Of Selva Verde & Sarapiqui Area

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Tara

I was really excited about the birding at Selva Verde because of the amazing bird list and superb guides they employ. We were up at the crack of dawn as usual for our birding walk with one of Costa Rica’s top birding guides, Alejandro Esquival. He is also the person who gives the lectures around 5pm in a little pavilion near the swimming pool to give you an idea of what can be seen in the area. Alejandro is also a skilled photographer and has some amazing images on his Flickr page. He did a fantastic job of finding most of our targeted species and some that were so well hidden we never would have found them on our own.

Our guide, Alejandro Esquival

Selva Verde Lodge has a checklist and more information on their website. They do a bird count every year around Christmas time as they mention on their blog. I have copied the parrot section here and highlighted in yellow the ones we saw both the evening before and during the guided walk.

This is one of the best places in the world to see the endangered Great Green Macaw in the wild and we were very lucky to see 2 flying over the swimming pool in the late afternoon.

MY PHOTOS

Sorry, most are pretty bad. The birds were far away and often backlit so I can’t even see the colours. I tried to identify most of them. I did get some good ones of the Crimson-fronted Conure with Alejandro’s help. At least he was perching nicely and holding still!