Monteverde is a 4 hour bus ride through the deforested hills of the central pacific slope. Luckily, I had a guide to help me get there, Rosie from H and B came with me to be my Spanish translator and nature guide. However, she had never been there either, so it was the blind leading the blind. We missed the bus to our destination and ended up relying on the tried and tested method of hitch-hiking. If it wasn't for Rosie I would never had gotten there. We managed to hitch a ride with a van who was going to pick up a group of tourists. The van crawled slowly up the last 30 km of rough dirt roads… Looking out over the barren hills it was hard to believe that we were so close to the most famous cloud forest in the world but sure enough, once near the top you could begin to see the fog shrouded beginnings of the great forest. The town near the reserve is called Santa Elena; it is a popular tourist area with many people coming to see the reserve. In the evening we visited the Ranarium (frog exhibit) and the serpentarium (snake exhibit) and became acquainted with some of Monteverde’s residents that are best viewed through a pane of glass.
The next day we took the 6AM bus to the reserve… One of my main goals of the trip was to find a Resplendent quetzal, said to be the most beautiful bird in the world, it is also an endangered species and one of the most elusive birds in Costa Rica, living only high in the cloud forests. While waiting for the park to open, I found one of these birds perched high in the canopy and managed to get a shaky photo, but enough to prove that I succeeded in my quest. The male Quetzal is a very odd looking bird, with a bright green Mohawk and huge tail feathers that blew wildly in the strong mountain breeze.
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| Male Resplendent Quetzal This photo really doesn't do this bird justice, I encourage you to google image it, just copy and past "Resplendent Quetzal" in the google bar. or you can just click this link to an award winning photo of this great bird...http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=186158 |
The cloud forest was incredible, with massive trees formed a thick canopy, shading the forest floor from the little light that filtered through the misty clouds. The constant moisture produced by these clouds nurtured the abundant growth of epiphtyes; plants which grow on other plants. These, along with mosses and lichens covered every available space on every tree, making each one beautifully unique, as though it could come alive and tell you the best stories of the past millennium.
Bird songs echoed through the forest, but it was hard to spot any in the tangled growth. Halfway along our hike I nearly stepped on a huge tarantula, which Rosie pointed out in startled excitement. Eager to photograph it I tried to direct it’s lumbering movements with my foot, it climbed aboard my shoe and made a run up my pant leg. I knew that it is poisonous but not quite sure just how poisonous. The worried look on the face of my nature guide made me realize that I should probably get it off. I tried coaxing it down with a stick, but it climbed higher and got the small hooks of it’s legs into my polar fleece and continued to climb up towards my head. I had to carefully remove my fleece and place it on the ground before it would let go and continue on it’s way.
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| Tarantula attack (Graphic) |
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| Uh oh... |
From there we continued on our way across a suspension walking bridge built over the rainforest-canopy…
Here is an awkward picture of me with a big tree...I like it.
The trail began to narrow as we approached the top of a mountain. The trees became much smaller, stunted by the high winds. We were now hiking directly into the clouds...
The trail ends in a look-out where you can view the vast expanse of protected forest. A sign beside the trail read “ The continental divide which extends from Canada to Argentina passes through this point. Beyond this sign water flows to the Atlantic ocean. Behind this sign water flows to the pacific Ocean”. I took a drink and poured water into each ocean. We watched the clouds roll over the distant hills, every now and then a gap would form and you could see all the way to the sunny Nicoya peninsula and the blue-green waters of the pacific ocean.
The cloud forest is also home to many different hummingbird species, the sheer abundance of them provided for great opportunities to photograph these “jewels of the mountains”.
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| Green-crowned Brilliant (female) |
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| Violet Sabrewing (super badass name) Largest hummer in the americas (also super badass) |
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| Green crowned brilliant (female) showing long tongue |
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| Violet Sabrewing |
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| Purple throated Mountain-gem (male) |
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| Green violet-ear (male) |
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| Green Hermit (rare species) |
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| Violet Sabrewing |
For me, Monteverde was a special place, an example what life can do given unlimited time, water and sunlight. It is a but a remnant of the ancient forest which once extended through the mountains of central America, but what remains should be protected indefinably. Afterall, in the words of the great E. O Wilson “ Destroying it for economic gain would be like burning a renaissance painting to cook a meal”
More posts soon to come, have been very busy with tours lately. Hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather back home! Thanks for reading!
-Nick
Nice pack, Fanny.
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