Costa Rica 2022 - photos and locales

[eft]

I travelled with my family to Costa Rica over the Christmas break. It was an incredible experience, made even more special as we were very fortunate to get one of the few flights out of Vancouver during this period. We stayed in Nuevo Arenal ("Cloud" Forest) and Potrero (Pacific north coast). Highlights were guided tours of the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge and Hacienda El Viejo Wetlands. The guides and boat operators were exceptional at identifying species and getting optimal views of the wildlife with minimal disturbance. Both guides were kind enough to create eBird checklists as we went, which made cataloging over 100 lifers in LR so much easier. Even the opportunities to observe and photograph birds from the places we stayed were excellent. Amazing wildlife, landscapes and people throughout our stay. A few photos below - all images taken with Nikon Z9 and 200-500mm.

American Pygmy Kingfisher


Roseate Spoonbill


Spider monkeys


Black-headed Trogon


Yellow-tailed Oriole


Canivet's Emerald Hummingbird


Ringed Kingfisher


Little Blue Heron

 

[fotogrob]

On my bucket list. Great shots

 

[Anjin San]

Did you plan your own trip or use a service…and if so which one. On my list too but I think that detailed local knowledge would produce a better overall trip.

 

[Calson]

Important to realize that Cano Negro has the most variability of wildlife present depending on the season of any place in Costa Rica.

 

[eft]

On my bucket list. Great shots

Thanks so much. All the best!

Did you plan your own trip or use a service…and if so which one. On my list too but I think that detailed local knowledge would produce a better overall trip.

We planned our own trip but guides are a must imo. We rented a car and I drove to meet the guides. They provided boat access for river excursions. The boats were well set up for moving around and lying down on the bow to get eye level shots of subjects on the water. The guides also know areas that are off the beaten path and where certain species are likely to be found. I didn't have a specific target list so every bird and reptile was new and exciting.

I had a guide lined up but he became unavailable so I started looking online for recommendations and talked to the folks who managed the properties we stayed in.

Hacienda El Viejo Wetlands is across the Rio Tempisque from Palo Verde. They have a restaurant where they served a wonderful local lunch (casado). Olivier Esquivel was my guide and host. He was recommended by another guide and was awesome to work with.

Caño Negro is a 2h drive north from Nuevo Arenal. We just happended to see it on the map and started researching from there. We hired Renato Paniagua Rodriguez and he was also amazing. 70 species in 3h bam!

Both guides were passionate about nature and had encyclopedic knowledge of fauna, flora and the rich history and culture of the area.

Important to realize that Cano Negro has the most variability of wildlife present depending on the season of any place in Costa Rica.

An absolute gem of a place. Don't know why I didn't see more mention of it in these forums. We were really lucky that the water levels were still just high enough to travel by boat. A forest walk would have been awesome too, just different.

 

[Anjin San]

Thanks for the details…I captured them for possible future use.