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Costa Rica


Corcovado National Park

Anteater on the Corcovado hike in Costa Rica
In January 2019, I walked for three days through the Corcovado rainforest in Costa Rica from Finca La Tarde to La Leona (28 miles plus side trips)
Jungle hike through the Corcovado forest in Costa Rica
A guide is required to hike inside the park boundaries (2019).  Logistics were taken care of by the agency in Puerto Jimenez, including the bookings/meals at Finca La Tarde and the Sirena Ranger Station  
Strangler fig in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica
Strangler Fig, twists around the host tree from top to bottom, starts with a bird dropping a seed on a high branch
Tree frog on a night walk
Finca La Tarde is outside park boundaries, so night hiking is permitted in the area 
Giant cockroach
Giant cockroach
Bamboo in the forest
The second day was a full day walk through the primary rainforest from the farm to the Sirena Ranger Station
Spider Monkey on the Corcovado National Park hike in Costa Rica
A group of spider monkeys in the middle of the forest not accustomed to humans mimicked the sound of a puma to scare us away.  The jaguar and puma are the alpha predators in the Corcovado forest
Woodpecker in the forest
Pale-billed Woodpecker
Our guide Gerson had a hunting telescope, the optics were far superior to a zoom camera and could bring out the colors in the birds.  We saw toucans, macaws, owls, hummingbirds and more.  He seemed to specialize in finding birds by hearing their songs 
American crocodile in the Sirena River in Corcovado, Costa Rica
The Sirena River is known for its population of crocodiles and bull-sharks.  The crocs were active with the tide/food coming into the riverhead
Crossing Rio Claro in Corcovado National Park
Rio Claro is typically croc-free, but they were still on our minds as the rivers are separated by only one mile.  Tomer pointed out a stingray as we crossed the waist deep river
The beach walk to Le Leona in Corcovado National Park hike
The final day was along the Pacific, a mixture of beach and forest walking to the La Leona Ranger Station
Beach walk from Sirena to Le Leona in Corcovado
The walk was exposed to the sun with tropical humidity.  The longer and more remote beach walk from San Pedrillo to Sirena is officially closed to hikers (2019)
Tapir taking a nap on the beach
Tapir taking an afternoon nap in the shade.  During the night hours they can eat 50kg of food
Anteater in the trees in Corcovado
We saw many mammals on the coastal walk including the anteater.  Corcovado is a unique place, one of my favorite guided hikes

Resources:  OsaWild

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Contact: darnoldhiking@gmail.com

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