Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica
The morning found us on the shore of Rio Rincon inside Golfo Dulce on the south pacific coast of Costa Rica. Our expedition began by exploring the rainforest and mangroves that border Rio Rincon by Zodiac, foot and kayak. As always the forest is full of surprises, for some unknown reason there was more than the usual number of morpho butterflies fluttering around. Those most beautiful of butterflies have been used as a symbol of how exotic life on the rainforest can be. The color of the morpho is produced by reflection of light rather than pigmentation. The result is a bright metallic blue butterfly that seems to fly just to be seen.
Our birding efforts were well rewarded as most people got to see chestnut-mandibled toucans, slaty-tailed trogons, and other colorful birds. Definitely the most exciting and rarest sighting today was that of an ocelot. Four people got to see this cat at the side of the road, just as if it were a normal, every day thing to see. Most of the naturalists commented on how it took them many years in the forest to see their first ocelot, or how they hadn’t seen one yet.
After a very rewarding morning we sailed on through the calm waters of Golfo Dulce to reach our final destination of the day called Casa Orquideas or the Orquid House. Casa Orquideas is a botanical garden surrounded by pristine rainforest. Ron and Trudy McAllister are a couple from Tennessee that have slowly created this piece of paradise out of the wilderness. Twenty-three years ago the McAllisters arrived in the area and never left. The garden contains a combination of plants coming from the forest nearby as well as many exotic introduced plants from the tropics of elsewhere in the world. The combination of abundant flowers and fruits make it a heaven for birds as well as bird watchers. Hundreds of colorful memories are left in our minds as we end our last day in Costa Rica and sail toward the waters of Panama.
The morning found us on the shore of Rio Rincon inside Golfo Dulce on the south pacific coast of Costa Rica. Our expedition began by exploring the rainforest and mangroves that border Rio Rincon by Zodiac, foot and kayak. As always the forest is full of surprises, for some unknown reason there was more than the usual number of morpho butterflies fluttering around. Those most beautiful of butterflies have been used as a symbol of how exotic life on the rainforest can be. The color of the morpho is produced by reflection of light rather than pigmentation. The result is a bright metallic blue butterfly that seems to fly just to be seen.
Our birding efforts were well rewarded as most people got to see chestnut-mandibled toucans, slaty-tailed trogons, and other colorful birds. Definitely the most exciting and rarest sighting today was that of an ocelot. Four people got to see this cat at the side of the road, just as if it were a normal, every day thing to see. Most of the naturalists commented on how it took them many years in the forest to see their first ocelot, or how they hadn’t seen one yet.
After a very rewarding morning we sailed on through the calm waters of Golfo Dulce to reach our final destination of the day called Casa Orquideas or the Orquid House. Casa Orquideas is a botanical garden surrounded by pristine rainforest. Ron and Trudy McAllister are a couple from Tennessee that have slowly created this piece of paradise out of the wilderness. Twenty-three years ago the McAllisters arrived in the area and never left. The garden contains a combination of plants coming from the forest nearby as well as many exotic introduced plants from the tropics of elsewhere in the world. The combination of abundant flowers and fruits make it a heaven for birds as well as bird watchers. Hundreds of colorful memories are left in our minds as we end our last day in Costa Rica and sail toward the waters of Panama.
