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Costa Rica.... (1 Viewer)

Watcha

Easter hols are looming and i'm seriously thinking about two weeks in Costa Rica

can anyone who's familiar with the place give me a bit of advice?

I would visit Monteverde, Braulio Carillo and i think Cerro de la Muerte, all by public transport.

Anywhere else worth doing? Is it worth going to La Selva for a couple of days? I'd rather stay in a small number of places and get more birding in, seeing the Costa Rican/Panamanian endems than trying to get a big list of birds which i may have seen in other countries...

Tim
 
Tim Allwood said:
Watcha

Easter hols are looming and i'm seriously thinking about two weeks in Costa Rica

can anyone who's familiar with the place give me a bit of advice?

I would visit Monteverde, Braulio Carillo and i think Cerro de la Muerte, all by public transport.

Anywhere else worth doing? Is it worth going to La Selva for a couple of days? I'd rather stay in a small number of places and get more birding in, seeing the Costa Rican/Panamanian endems than trying to get a big list of birds which i may have seen in other countries...

Tim

Tim

A fellow teacher mate of mine looked into Costa Rica this easter and thought the flight price was a little prohibitive (but i'm sure that you've already looked into that...).

All the sites you mention were cracking (Cerro de la Muerte in particular) but if you're at Braulio, it's not too far to La Selva/Selva Verde Lodge but be prepared to pay a premium here for accommodation as they generally cater for the more general capital rich Yanks who want 'the jungle experience'. I'd have thought that Carara and the Tarcoles River would be high on the decent birding list within this country, although I realise you've only got a couple of weeks to play with. If you're going here, try and get a bus that stops in Oropesa as I saw both Black-and-White Owl and Ferruginous Pygmy Owl in the small park near the bus station here in March 2003. Carara itself was cracking - Scarlet Macaws, Long-tailed Manakins and a quality lek of Orange-collared Manakins to name but a few. And, very close, get a boat trip into the mangroves and you should hopefully locate a Mangrove Hummer...

The other direction (north) from San Jose, for sheer numbers of bird and a spectacle Palo Verde was quality - Jabiru, Double-striped Thick-knee and a couple of thousand Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (although I reckon with public transport getting around this large, rather isolated, reserve could be a bit of a ball ache).

I could go on for ages as this is a top country and you can see what I saw at http://www.freewebs.com/richbonser2/costarica.htm (I organised it with 3 mates and did it on a budget basis bar the first couple of nights at Selve Verde lodge).

The beer (Imperial) and food was good and, especially around San Jose and the tourist town of Jaca, you could fill your boots with admiring the local talent...

good birding

Rich
 
magic Rich

top stuff

look forward to checking out the local talent...!

atb
Tim

btw, anyone interested in going out there around Apr 1 for two weeks, drop me an email...
 
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Watcha Tim,

Was in Costa Rica in November. Did it all with the luxury of hired vehicle so can't comment on the transport issue, but I have a friend who's visiting soon, I'll pass you his e-mail address, he'll be visiting using public transport. I'll also e-mail you all my maps from the places, haven't finished the report as yet.

I just spent 2 weeks, a quick run down.

Carara - Great birding, especially along the river trail and HQ trail (Spectacled Antpitta etc). These would be easy to do if you tried to stay at the HQ (no idea if it's possible, could be though, especially with your charm. Will you be taking a tent? This would be fine). Bus goes through the reserve on the main highway.

Orotina - Easy to do. B&W Owl easy enough, along with 3-toed Sloth! Saves you going nightbirding for that mega bird, though is common at La Selva & Carara.

Cerro De La Muerta - Easy to get to and stay at the restaurant (see Ian Merrills trip report on his website). Would be easy to hitch down to San Gerado Valley if required for staked out Quetzels, Dusky Nightjar and hummers.

La Selva - Loved this place. Has a real 'In the forest' feel, almost Danum Valley like. Though paying a premium is the norm in the neotropics, here is no exception! Have new accommodation too, but sure you could work something out, camping on the doorstep of the canteen or something similar. Loads of birds along the entrance road, and some real megas to be found inside the extensive Primary forest trail system.

Braullio - Awful weather on the morning I spent there, saw 2 species on the HQ trail, but one was a Black-crowned Antpitta! The only Antpitta I've been really impressed with. Snowcap at the Hummer flowers 2 km up the road too.

Monteverde - Didn't visit as I was there wrong time of year. Brolleybird was at La Selva instead.

Plenty of local talent, try the Shop at La Selva OTS for some initial views.

Cheers,

James
 
All of my birding in the region has been by private car, so I can't help you much on transport. La selva is a really great site to see a lot of great birds, but you are far less likely to get the endemics there. The birds in the Caribbean lowlands are pretty much the same from Belize right down into South America, so, although you will get loads of good birds, many will be things you can see elsewhere. Braulio Carillo is slightly higher and gets a lot of different species, though many are still widely distributed. The highlands (such as Monteverde and Cerro de la Muerte) are where the real endemics are to be found. Monteverde is easy to get to by public transport and Cerro de la Muerte is probably easy, as its the main raod to the east of the country and most good sites are just off the road. The Pacific slope is also far richer in the endemics. In the north east you get the Pacific slope dry forest species that generally extend up about as far as southern Mexico. Further south you have some more regional endemics (shared with Panama) around the Peninsular de Osa.
I have planned both of my trips (11 weeks in total) using site guides by Dennis Rogers and Aaron Sekerak. they may be a bit out of date now, or be hard to get, but both were very useful. Sekerak has a nice section at the end which goes through each of the regional specialties and gives details on where to find them and how hard they are to get etc. Richard Garrigues' excellent website 'Finding birds in Costa Rica' (http://www.angelfire.com/bc/gonebirding/) is well worth checking out.
The best of luck. You will have a great trip.

Tom
 
Was a while back, so better advice on the birds etc will be from others, but as for transport I did all sites by public transport and it was a breeze. Nice weather there ;)
 
Reasonably priced flights from the UK are the big issue. KLM/Martinair might be the best bet pricewise (fly via Miami) -any non-USA connection avoiding the hassle of US security checks would be a bonus but can't seem to find any. Would be interested to hear who you go with (flightwise!) & what you paid.
Richard Garrigues website may be a useful resource:www.angelfire.com/bc/gonebirding/index.htm
And its worth looking at Costa Rica Gateway for info especially if you get drawn to the dudeside! : www.costaricagateway.com/
 
The journey to Monteverde is the worst journey I've ever done. The road is really, really bad. The local tourist info told us we didn't need a 4x4. They lied. I can imagine a bus journey there being a tad bumpy... I've got a "I survived the road to Monteverde" t-shirt! No really, they sell them in the shops there!

When you do get there it's an amazing place. I hired a guide which was fairly cheep and very worthwhile. She new exactly what tree had roosting owls, humming bird nests etc.
 
Hi Tim,

I'm not up to speed with the recent situation but be extremely careful if you go to Braulio Carillo. 8 years ago I got off the bus at Quebrada Gonzales (by the HQ) and birded the trails round there but heard what I believe was someone being killed by bandits and it scared the hell out of me. I left the trail and crawled through the jungle back to the road and hitched a lift by some locals who conveyed how crazy I was being there . On the plus side I did get cracking views of Black-crowned Antpitta, Dull-mantled Antbird, Snowcap, Brown-billed Sythebill etc... Just be careful.
 
marek_walford said:
The journey to Monteverde is the worst journey I've ever done. The road is really, really bad. The local tourist info told us we didn't need a 4x4. They lied. .

This is worrying. I'm going there soon and we cant afford a 4x4. Did you damage the underside of the car, get stuck in treacle like mud, or are we talking horrific precipices here? Should I try to find 300 dollars for an upgrade?
 
i understand buses go to Monteverde

Braulio Carillo has long been know as a target for the odd 'bandito'. Usually car robberies. Public transport drops at the hq where there are armed guards is a better idea!

thanks for all the great info so far...

best get after that cheapo flight!

Tim
 
flights are a pain

got one on hold for £600 till the morning

anyone know of a decent place for airfares (on the net?) that might do it cheaper. Any suggestions could go into a later thread for travelling birders? Maybe?

Tim
 
The forest above Golfito not far from Panama on the Pacific coast were good (Golfito easily accessible by public bus). Mangroves had Mangrove Hummer. Other birders had White-crested Coquette and the Yellow-billed Cotinga in this area (sadly not me !)
 
Tim Allwood said:
anyone know of a decent place for airfares (on the net?) that might do it cheaper. Any suggestions could go into a later thread for travelling birders? Maybe?Tim

Got my tickets to Costa Rica from Expedia. Was about £600
 
johnraven said:
This is worrying. I'm going there soon and we cant afford a 4x4. Did you damage the underside of the car, get stuck in treacle like mud, or are we talking horrific precipices here? Should I try to find 300 dollars for an upgrade?

Depends what time of year you go. I was there in the dry season (Feb) and the road is full of pot holes. It's passable in a car but I would never, ever, ever do it again. I had to drive at 5 miles an hour for several hours. In the wet season you'd definitely get stuck in a car. Either way, if I ever do it again I'll hire a 4x4! Trashed the car (bits hanging off etc.) but handed it back and legged it before they could say anything. To be honest I suspect they expect cars to be trashed...
 
Cheaptickets.com is good and one I've used for several international trips. If you have date flexibility, priceline.com can be even better price-wise where you tell them what you're willing to pay and then see if you can live with the schedule they come back with. Haven't personally used priceline and not sure I'd do it for international travel, but I think you're more adventurous than I am. ;)
 
Oops how could I forget. Also saw Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager in ravine behind Golfito (less than 500m from town) also good for Black-bellied Wren, Red-capped Manakin Lek, W-t Shrike Tanager, Thrush-like Shiff, White Hawk,White- collared (is that it's name ?)Puffbird etc.
 
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