Our wildlife encounters started really
early on this trip. They started before we even boarded our
plane. As the sliding glass doors opened to the airport terminal, we
spotted a juvenile gopher snake that seemed to be headed into the
terminal as well. It was less than two feet long but looked quite
healthy. Before we had a chance to rescue it, some other snake friendly
person escorted it outside. With that behind us, the rest of the trip
was as painless as traveling can be. I am actually able to sleep a bit
on these red-eye flights now which makes the next day much better.
Upon arrival in San Jose, we easily found
our driver for Xandari. We were soon driving through the
streets of San Jose only vaguely following the traffic laws which is
typical for Central America. Xandari is located on a hill with a great
view of the valley. They have extensive grounds and we were looking
forward to spotting some new critters. Our upgraded villa (thank you very
much Xandari) was spectacular.
After unpacking, we hit the grounds to see what we could find and had pretty good luck.
Blue-Crowned Motmot (We saw 4 total on the grounds)
Rufous-naped Wren
Inca Dove
Xandari has multiple waterfalls on their grounds:
After a very nice dinner, we hit the
trails again hoping to find some herps. Besides a Marine Toad we didn't have
much luck on the walk until we started back. I turned a corner in the
trail only to come face to face (well, face to foot really) with a
Nine-banded Armadillo. In my excitement, my "Armadillo" exclamation was
a bit too loud and the Armadillo turned on a dime and galloped up the
path away from us. I had no idea they could run so darn fast. We were a
bit disappointed that we didn't get a good look at the Armadillo so we
searched the area up the hill pretty thoroughly but couldn't find it.
We were greeted by this nice sized tarantula outside our villa though:
As we were getting ready for bed, I heard
a rustling outside the villa. We turned on our flashlights and peered
through the all glass front wall of the villa. There, not 5 feet away,
was the Armadillo nosing through the leaf litter. This time we got some
great looks but no pictures unfortunately.
After an early breakfast, I took a quick
stroll around the grounds but didn't find any critters of note. So, I
took some pictures of the flora that is plentiful throughout the Xandari
gardens.
Not longer after, we were whizzing through the streets
of San Jose again towards the airport. A few pedestrian close calls
and red light running later, we were in the airport waiting for our
Sansa flight to Puerto Jimenez. As we were waiting, I saw a familiar
face. Philip, the naturalist at Bosque del Cabo was returning from
vacation and heading to the lodge as well. How great is your life when you
take vacations to "get away" from paradise only to return to "work" at
one of the best wildlife destinations in the tropics? Our flight to PJ
was smooth and scenic as expected.
As usual, the drive from PJ to Bosque del
Cabo (BdC) was scenic but most certainly NOT smooth. On the drive in, we met a
great couple from Toronto and chatted it up pretty good. They were in
Costa Rica for sun and surf and ended up getting plenty of both. During
the drive we got some good looks at Crested Caracara, Scarlet Macaws,
Northern Jacana and White Ibis. We also had a brief stop to check out a
Three-toed Sloth that was in a tree above the road. Unfortunately, it
was not much more than a brown and green ball of fur so there are no
good pictures to share. Just before arriving at BdC a White-faced Coati
crossed the road slowly in front of us. Soon after that, we spotted a
huge green iguana along the road. The truck obviously startled it since
it quickly scampered down the road away from us. It moved pretty darn
quick for a 3 foot lizard.
We arrived at BdC in a downpour. But,
that didn't stop us from enjoying our welcome drinks in the restaurant
or from taking in the great sights of BdC. The rain also
didn't prevent us from our first wildlife encounter. Right next to the
restaurant, I found a good sized Tropical Bird Eating Snake. We
followed the snake as it wandered towards the bar, up beside the pool,
and then proceeded to get in the pool and swim super quickly across to
the other side. The difference in speed between it's slow careful
slithering on land and the way it shot through the water was amazing to
watch. I barely had a chance to take some action shots.
We also took this opportunity to take some video to capture the moment.
The rain did let up soon after the snake encounter. But, before heading out for our first hike, we
searched our wonderful cabina (Pizote) for some animals. All we could
find was a Leaf Mimicking Mantis and a tiny gecko but both were welcome
guests since they would handle any bugs that got in. It's nice to have natural "house keeping" services. We only had an hour or so before lunch so
we decided to do a quick loop through the tropical garden.
Agouti
Anole
After lunch we walked down the main road
and back since this is a great way to see mammals. We were rewarded
with a troop of Mantled Howler Monkeys really close to the road.
We even found a White-faced Capuchin hanging around:
Boy, it was good to be back in the rainforest. Besides all the incredible wildlife to watch, there is nothing like the sounds of the jungle.
It rained after dinner, so any hopes of a
night walk were soon lost. But, we did see a Masked Smilisca (a frog) and some
toads around the restaurant and the rain gave us a chance to turn in a
bit early and get a good night's sleep.
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