An emerging sun over the Osa Peninsula painted with orange hues welcomes our arrival to our third location in southern Pacific Costa Rica this week. This time the circumnavigation from Golfo Dulce around the peninsula was smooth and calmed. Our morning destination was the privately owned forest of Caletas. This a major buffer zone for the vast Corcovado National park and following our philosophy we wanted to share with our guests the intentions of local people to preserve their land for future generations.
Right after breakfast we disembarked to Caletas Beach and Reserve. A good amount of guests joined naturalist Cristian in a horseback riding expedition following the shoreline to the river mouth of Rio Claro. The discovery of Osa peninsula whether on horses or hiking would always have the surprise factor in it. During my walk, after an hour in search of the scarlet macaws, I was talking about the beach almond (Terminalia catappa) the main source of food for this species; in a blink of an eye, there! Two pairs of scarlet macaws landed right in front of us. Unbelievable! I cannot count all the images our guests, including me, tried to shoot of the exhilarating colors of these birds. By the end of the morning most of us returned for lunch with big smiles on our faces.
By mid-afternoon after a well-deserved siesta, our eager guests were ready for a new adventure, this time in Corcovado National Park. Corcovado is certainly one of our most pristine tropical wet forests, with vast territories interconnected through biological corridors protecting around 40% of Costa Rica’s biodiversity. Upon arrival, the rumor of a Baird’s Tapir in Pargo trail spread among the naturalists. With a group of guests we decided to search for one of the largest mammals weighting up to 550 lbs.; this time a foot print was the only evidence of this member of the order of horses and rhinocerous. However, some special sightings included Central American spider monkeys, mantled howler monkeys, basilisks and norops lizards, among others.
Early in the evening we repositioned to Drake’s Bay. We spent the night enjoying a delicious dinner with a serenade with Napoleon and Celia from Argentina. Tonight we rest, tomorrow a new adventure awaits in Manuel Antonio National Park.
