Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica
We began our day on the Osa Peninsula by visiting one of the most remote areas of Costa Rica, an area accessible only by boat or small plane, namely Corcovado National Park. We split into several groups, some visiting a series of waterfalls, others exploring some more level forest trails, but whichever route we took we were not disappointed. Those of us on the longer Waterfall trail found two different species of snake, a beautiful (but deadly) coral snake, plus the equally deadly, but not so attractive fer-de-lance. The appearance of these two different snakes made Cecil Schwalbe, our National Geographic lecturer, arguably the happiest man alive! As you can see from the picture, the coral snake is a very colorful animal indeed, and though deadly it has a very small mouth and is considered “rear-fanged” so it has a difficult time actually injecting venom into a person, but for its preferred prey of other snakes, lizards or small rodents the fangs work just fine!
We all came back aboard for a short cruise along the coast to Caletas beach where a delicious Beach BBQ awaited us. After lunch we could relax in the shade, swim in the surf, wander on a bird hike, or for the more active among us, a delightful horseback ride along the coastline, dipping in and out of the forest. Indeed, the horseback brigade also happened on a big group of white-fronted capuchin monkeys, that were as interested in us as we were in them!
We came back aboard in time to enjoy sunset cocktails on the sun deck, and reflect back on what a great day we had experienced. The evening was truly capped when Nick Candy shared his Video chronicle of the trip with us, and what a hilarious and fun experience it was.
We began our day on the Osa Peninsula by visiting one of the most remote areas of Costa Rica, an area accessible only by boat or small plane, namely Corcovado National Park. We split into several groups, some visiting a series of waterfalls, others exploring some more level forest trails, but whichever route we took we were not disappointed. Those of us on the longer Waterfall trail found two different species of snake, a beautiful (but deadly) coral snake, plus the equally deadly, but not so attractive fer-de-lance. The appearance of these two different snakes made Cecil Schwalbe, our National Geographic lecturer, arguably the happiest man alive! As you can see from the picture, the coral snake is a very colorful animal indeed, and though deadly it has a very small mouth and is considered “rear-fanged” so it has a difficult time actually injecting venom into a person, but for its preferred prey of other snakes, lizards or small rodents the fangs work just fine!
We all came back aboard for a short cruise along the coast to Caletas beach where a delicious Beach BBQ awaited us. After lunch we could relax in the shade, swim in the surf, wander on a bird hike, or for the more active among us, a delightful horseback ride along the coastline, dipping in and out of the forest. Indeed, the horseback brigade also happened on a big group of white-fronted capuchin monkeys, that were as interested in us as we were in them!
We came back aboard in time to enjoy sunset cocktails on the sun deck, and reflect back on what a great day we had experienced. The evening was truly capped when Nick Candy shared his Video chronicle of the trip with us, and what a hilarious and fun experience it was.
