Corcovado National Park, the Osa Peninsula
Today was IT!! For those of you wishing to visit the tropical rainforest, Corcovado is it! For those of you wanting to get a look at wildlife, Corcovado is it! For those of us dying to see marine wildlife, Corcovado is also it! Let me explain myself. This morning we disembarked onto the sandy beaches of Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula the southernmost peninsula of Costa Rica. Covering one third of the Peninsula, this park is one of the wildest, most beautiful spots in the country, and as a matter of fact, National Geographic dubbed it “the most biologically intense place on earth.”
We split into three different groups, long-walkers, waterfall-walkers, and flat-walkers. The phenomenal trails rewarded us with dense, pristine, old forests where the trees reached up to 50 feet in height. It also shared with us groups of various species of monkeys: white-throated capuchin-monkeys, mantled-howler monkeys and spider monkeys, along with manakins, macaws, trogons, basilisk lizards, and much more.
What we failed to remember was that the park also includes marine area! Just outside of the San Pedrillo ranger station one of our guests yelled “whale!” The Captain repositioned the ship, and approaching the animals with care, we were pleasantly surprised by the presence of a Humpback cow and her calf. We were intrigued by their flippers, both animals had exquisitely white skin… The mother seemed to be helping her offspring come to the surface to breathe, and they were not disturbed at all by our presence. One of our naturalists geared up with the underwater camera and jumped in. What fantastic footage! What a fantastic way to come close to nature!
The afternoon proceeded as planned: horseback riding, birdwatching and walking towards Drake’s Bay. After dinner, we peeked just outside the stern of the ship and found what many didn’t even imagine existed, bulldog fishing bats! One more day in paradise, and one more to go!
Today was IT!! For those of you wishing to visit the tropical rainforest, Corcovado is it! For those of you wanting to get a look at wildlife, Corcovado is it! For those of us dying to see marine wildlife, Corcovado is also it! Let me explain myself. This morning we disembarked onto the sandy beaches of Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula the southernmost peninsula of Costa Rica. Covering one third of the Peninsula, this park is one of the wildest, most beautiful spots in the country, and as a matter of fact, National Geographic dubbed it “the most biologically intense place on earth.”
We split into three different groups, long-walkers, waterfall-walkers, and flat-walkers. The phenomenal trails rewarded us with dense, pristine, old forests where the trees reached up to 50 feet in height. It also shared with us groups of various species of monkeys: white-throated capuchin-monkeys, mantled-howler monkeys and spider monkeys, along with manakins, macaws, trogons, basilisk lizards, and much more.
What we failed to remember was that the park also includes marine area! Just outside of the San Pedrillo ranger station one of our guests yelled “whale!” The Captain repositioned the ship, and approaching the animals with care, we were pleasantly surprised by the presence of a Humpback cow and her calf. We were intrigued by their flippers, both animals had exquisitely white skin… The mother seemed to be helping her offspring come to the surface to breathe, and they were not disturbed at all by our presence. One of our naturalists geared up with the underwater camera and jumped in. What fantastic footage! What a fantastic way to come close to nature!
The afternoon proceeded as planned: horseback riding, birdwatching and walking towards Drake’s Bay. After dinner, we peeked just outside the stern of the ship and found what many didn’t even imagine existed, bulldog fishing bats! One more day in paradise, and one more to go!
