I saw the dawn sun rising in a dusky-pink sky as we walked across the wet sand, the glowing ball peeking over the ridge where my home sits. This was the first time that I had witnessed a
sunrise from the western shore of the Golfo Dulce; I've often sat on our deck watching the sun set where I now stood.
I was excited as I stepped over the stern of the speed boat that would ferry my husband, I, and a group of hikers and tour guides around the tip of the Osa Peninsula and along the Pacific Coast to the park. This was to be my second adventure into a Costa Rican National Park. Over four years ago, M and I climbed Chirripó, the highest mountain in Costa Rica. The hike up its 7,000 foot elevation was a huge challenge, but was well worth the effort.
Our destination this time was La Sirena Ranger Station in the Corcovado National Park, a place that is considered to be one of the world's most biodiverse wildlife regions. We can see it from our deck and we had heard enthusiastic reports from many friends, so it has long been on our adventure bucket list.. We were to be there 2 days and the place did not disappoint.
After an hour and half of racing across the light ocean swell, we made a "wet landing" on the sand bar of the Rio Claro. In bare feet, our hiking boats strapped to our back packs, each passenger had to climb over the boat's stern as the breaking surf jammed the boat up on the beach then sucked it back into the water. "Quick, quick, quick," the boat mate shouted as I handed my back pack to him and leapt off into the knee deep water. Collecting ourselves, we stood on the beach as the boat was manhandled back into deeper water so the the huge 300 HP outboards could be lowered to depart.
Trudging in the deep sand over to a fallen log, we cleaned our feet to put on our hiking boots. Not 40 feet from the fallen log, we entered a tunnel through the mangroves where the guide pointed out a slumbering tapir. It was a juvenile but looked pretty big to me. Turns out tapirs love the beach as much as I do. They are mostly nocturnal, find shady places near the sand to nap during the day.
This was not the first tapir that we'd see. We were lucky enough to later come upon two mature tapirs with a baby, and early in the second morning, as we hiked out, we encountered a young tapir walking towards us on the path. He gave us a quizzical look with its ears twitching forward and back, then lifted his droopy lip and squeaked out a call. He
didn't know what to make of us and, although we scooted off the path to let him pass, he decided to circumnavigate us just to play it safe.
The first day, we hiked with our guide on trails near the La Sirena Ranger Station. Our morning hike found us in primary forest where the massive trees towered more than 100' above us. The Espavel tree is prevalent, providing upper canopy shade and food for the smaller monkey species. Our guide told us that during Spanish colonial times the indigenous people would climb them to use as lookouts for their enemies, thus giving rise to the origin of the Spanish word “espave” which was abbreviated for “es para ver” meaning “it is to see.”
Unlike the elusive jaguars and the cautious tapirs, the pizotes are unconcerned with human visitors. Opportunistic as raccoons, we saw one enterprising male stroll along the long line of visitors waiting at the Ranger inspection station. The Rangers look in every bag and backpack for prohibited items like single use plastic bottles and food. I guess that pizote thought there may be a good snack available later from the confiscated booty.
During our afternoon hike, we saw several packs of pizotes. The females and babies were tucked in the crooks of trees while the males snuffled along the ground with their pointed snouts in search of buried crabs. In the high canopy, we witnessed troupes of all 4 species of monkeys that live in Costa Rica: spider, capuchin, howler and squirrel. The spider and the squirrel monkeys will co-exist in the same zone of trees since they eat different elements of those trees. They would swing from high branch to lower limb making crashing noises as the leaves shivered with their weight.
Our guide, Luis< carried a monocular telescope on a tripod. With his experience, he could spot different species of birds and train his scope on them. There were great curassow birds that look like a black pheasant with a yellow rubber ducky for a beak. A beautiful tiger heron was resting at the edge of a creek. We'd look in the lens to see a vivid image of a bird with a grasshopper clamped in its beak and whacking it against a branch to soften it for a good meal. To record these amazing sights, our guide had an attachment on his telescope enabling us to take photos with our phones.
As the guides led their groups of visitors through the many paths around the station, we'd occasionally cross paths. If one guide had discovered an animal, they'd pass the information along to the next guide. With a such tip, it was late in the afternoon that we were able to see a shy sloth peeking over the edge of his roost to look down as we looked up.
Returning to the Ranger station fully satisfied with sights of the day, we enjoyed a delicious dinner consisting of locally produced, organic food. The overnight accommodation is basic and clean. I'm happy that we only stayed one night as I was assigned an upper bunk. Its' sturdy metal design made it a bit of a challenge to get in and out, so once I was in, I was in for the night. Lights out was 8 pm when the generator shuts down and the supplemental solar power runs out. Everyone settled into their mosquito net enclosed bunk bed the call time for all visitors was 4:30 am.
I awoke around 3 am and decided to sit on the wide front porch of the Station until it was time to pack and leave. A half-moon lit the wide expanse of grass that reaches to the wall of tall trees. I was hoping I might see the flash of jaguar eyes in the tall grass, even though our guide had said that the jaguars stay far from the paths where humans walk.
The second day was a 13 mile hike out
( That’s almost 21 kms!) was my greatest challenge. Though it was mostly flat, we traveled along trails and trudged in deep sand on the beach for long stretches. Partway along we took a cooling dip in a freshwater forest pool and scrambled around a rocky point in thigh deep water. That hike had it all. It was the last 4 miles when my backpack felt like a ton of bricks and my gluts were screaming that I had a little meltdown. Fortunately our guide and my hubby were supportive and we made it to the tiny airstrip in Carate, where an enterprising vendor was selling cold coconut water and beers.
I enjoy walking the trails around our home where there is a wide variety of flora and fauna. Now, I understand that we are fortunate to live in what could be considered "the suburbs." On our trip, we had the great fortune to witness the metropolis that is Corcovado National Park with its towering trees as the
skyscrapers. The troupes of monkeys swing through the canopy on their daily "commutes" while he birds, insects, and small animals live and die in a multi-layered ecosystem. As human visitors, we tried to be low impact tourists while we experienced this strange and wondrous world's complexity.
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