August 17th until 19th, 2011: Corcovado National Park

Wake up time for the trip to Corcovado National Park was at 5am. Quick breakfast at 5:30 and off we went in a boat at 6. Well, exciting 60 minutes they were. Shortly after we took off we spotted a school of 150+ false killer whales, no idea what the german term is. Then we saw a humpback whale with a baby but we only got a glimpse of the peaceful two. When we arrived close to Sirena Ranger Station we prepared for a 3 hour hike through the jungle and along the beach. We saw toucans, a woodpecker, spider monkeys, lizards, termite mounds (they say termites taste like peanut butter but I tried them and cannot confirm that), a white-nosed coati feeding on turtle eggs, great curassows, a bare-throated tiger heron, black vultures, a crested caracara, a grey hawk, an ant eater and more monkeys. :)

After a short sandwich lunch at Sirena Ranger Station we continued our trip through the jungle. We got really close to a troop of squirrel monkeys which I could take great pictures of. Our guide tried to find the bush pigs which had apparently left their very "fresh" tracks, but the search was in vain. Which wasn't really a problem for me as they have a rather bad reputation when it comes to greeting people hiking in the jungle. I know that the african bush pigs have to be dealt with the greatest attention so that seems to be the ultimate rule for this species. No cats were seen on that trip but that was what I almost expected after I talked to a few guides. Honestly...most of the time the joke was on me when I mentioned that I would love to see a cat. History repeating cause on Borneo it was the same sad situation. Well, not really sad as anything else that comes along is just as good. And Corcovado literally throws the wildlife right at you. A crazy place which was mentioned to be one of the most biodiverse areas on earth by the National Geographic Society.

On the boat trip back "home" we got to see the humpback whale and her baby again. This time the little one was just full of beans. It jumped constantly and we saw the whole body during that display of playfulness. Another amazing sight, though it was really hard to take pictures from the moving boat, which is why only a few came out right/ok. So the rest of the day was just relaxing in our hammocks and getting eaten alive by the moskitos. Which really wasn't a hard goal to accomplish. :)

Yesterday we went hiking without a guide which was also quite nice. A short stop for a swim at a lonely beach completed the rather laid back first half of the day (we started at 7am and came back at 2pm). Besides lots of lizards a snake I couldn't identify, more toucans, a big boa constrictor, a few spider monkeys very close-up and a hummingbird were what we spotted on that trip. We went to Paul's seafood restaurant in the afternoon and had some amazing dorada, snook and wahoo caught by the local fishermen the night before. The terrace was a great place to watch a few huge iguanas in a tree nearby and some beautiful birds (blue-gray & Passerini's tanager) feeding on ripe bananas. I bet we could have stayed there all day to see more wildlife cause even the town is just full of it. Right after we went to the bay to take pictures of the sunset but we were surprised by -guess what- another heavy troipcal rain which lasted really long so we took shelter in a building which -as we found out later- is one of the local churches. After packing our bags a huge storm announced its arrival with a scary, rolling thunder. The night was a toss and tumble as lightning struck very close to the cabinas, at one point I almost felt like it hit my bathroom. I heard that noise so close in my life.

So this morning we took the early boat to Sierpe to have time for our tripup the pacific coast but unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, I left my key back in the room and now we have to wait for the afternoon boat to get here. Fortunately this place is really nice and Kata&Peter don't really mind. So another drive after dark it will be. :( Anyway...pura vida! :)

Before I forget: new pictures can be found here.

Cheers,

Stefan