Itinerary Advice for three weeks costa rica (1 Viewer)

[Nick Brooks]

Hi Folks,

I'm planning a trip for Feb/March 2020 and after what seems like exhaustive research have come up with following plan.

Fly Manchester to San Jose – Stay Poas Lodge
3 nights Sarapiqui area
2 nights Laguna Legarto
3 nights Arenal
1 night Celeste mountain
1 Night Palo Verde
2 nights Carara
3 Nights Bosque del Rio Tigre
3 Nights Las Cruces Biological Station / Las Alturas / Rio Negro
2 nights San Gerrardo/Cerro de la Muerte
2 nights Rancho Naturalista

Can anybody advise if I have made any glaring omissions or am doubling up on some habitats and leaving out others. I'm not interested in making the treks over the the carribean coast. My ideal hol is a decent list and some decent photo ops but I'm not going to spend hours at a time photographing or hours waiting for some obscure brown job to appear at a stake out just to increase my list to mammoth proportions. I'll be just as happy spending time looking at a sloth, as it is about my speed. I'll be self driving on my own for trip and will look to probably hiring a guide at a couple of places if only to talk to someone - most likely carara seems a good spot for a guide. I've deliberately left out Cano negro as, apart from a couple of specialist birds, which don't light my fire, I think there's other places to hook up with waterbirds. Am I daft to miss out Monteverde? Any advice appreciated including any decent stops to break the journey en route to and from the southern sites.

Thanks

Nick

 

[Andy Adcock]

PM me an e-mail address and I'll send you my month long report just for you to read and maybe get ideas?

We did however, opt for more modest accommodations.

 

[gdhunter]

Fly Manchester to San Jose – Stay Poas Lodge
3 nights Sarapiqui area
2 nights Laguna Legarto
3 nights Arenal
1 night Celeste mountain
1 Night Palo Verde
2 nights Carara
3 Nights Bosque del Rio Tigre
3 Nights Las Cruces Biological Station / Las Alturas / Rio Negro
2 nights San Gerrardo/Cerro de la Muerte
2 nights Rancho Naturalista

My first visit to CR similarly clustered several destinations at which we stayed two and three nights each. Personally, I found that dissatisfying, and vowed more time at fewer sites for future trips, and that proved a more satisfying and (from a birding perspective) productive approach during our succeeding journeys.

Gary H

 

[njlarsen]

In support of what Gary wrote:
I just went to an area of Ecuador that was unknown to me. I had no less than 3 nights anywhere and would not have wanted it shorter. Every time you move there is driving time that takes away from birding, and in some cases, the driving might take longer than you expect (it did for me when I visited Costa Rica). Also think about the fact that you can walk the same trail in a tropical forest two days in a row and see quite different birds.

Niels

 

[Nick Brooks]

costa rica info

Thanks for the advice folks. I've done quite a few trips which prove to be a whirlwind and enjoy them - each to their own I guess but mine are driven by the fact that I only get time off for good behaviour every other year so have to maximise that time! I'll be dead before I get round to visiting Costa Rica a second time.

 

[njlarsen]

As you say: to each their own

Niels

 

[gdhunter]

I've done quite a few trips which prove to be a whirlwind and enjoy them - each to their own I guess but mine are driven by the fact that I only get time off for good behaviour every other year so have to maximise that time!

Of course a lot depends on your goal(s). I invariably try to maximize the number of species on the triplist, and "whirlwind" works counter to that goal in the tropics. Good luck. There is no wrong way to see such a great country.

Gary H