Monteverde is one of Costa Rica´s top ´ecological´ tourist attractions – it consists of two large cloud forest reserves, below which are the two villages of Santa Elena and Monteverde – which, like Manuel Antonio, are little more than ribbon development hotel´s, restaurants and art galleries along 6km of road, with no particular planning, and with the unfortunate characteristic that most people have to travel by car or taxi. Saying that, the area isn´t unattractive, and hasn´t (yet) been spoiled by over-development.
Rachel and I stayed in a backpackers hostel, which resembled something between a swiss chalet and a sauna – with a cosy (read small) room. I was tempted to see if there were any hot coals anywhere. We started off our stay by a visit to the local orchid garden, which boasts a collection of over 400 varieties. Although it wasn´t prime orchid time (which is in the dry season), there were plenty of plants doing their thing – from blooms that you´d traditionally think of, to tiny, tiny flowers, and a whole host of scents, including, tutti-fruiti, lemon, blood and poo. It was indeed a tour of the senses. Toward the end I was dogged by a puppy who insisted on dropping his bone on my foot, wanting me to gnaw on it, no doubt. When this didn´t work he decided that he wanted to eat my shoe-laces instead, and I ended up walking along, dragging a small sausage-dog attached to my water shoes. So enamoured of us was he, that he even followed us out of the place – Rachel had to pick him up and return him before making a quick get away.
Tiny orchids.
That afternoon we visited the local Ranarium – or frog pond, where they have some butterfly houses (a little disappointing, although fun to see butterflies emerging from their chrysalises), and numerous species of frogs in climate-controlled tanks. We spent a good hour getting the low down from our guide while trying to find where the little buggers were hiding – it was a bit like ´Where´s Willy?´ - but with variously coloured frogs hiding behind leaves and in crevices. It was pleasing to see how many we´d actually already seen in the wild, although there were plenty of new ones too that were now very rare, often because of the fungal plagues that have decimated many new-world amphibians, thought to be caused by climate change (Monteverde cloud reserve was host to the infamous golden toad, who´s numbers where decimated just a few years after it was first recorded by science, and is now thought to be extinct). It was good to see that our guide, and the information available had a strong environmental message, and the centre also funds research and re-stocking of dwindling wild populations.
The next day we decided to try out one of the canopy bridge walks available – we decided to forgo the ubiquitous zip-line tours (flying through the canopy on a wire – fun, but to be honest, you could probably have as much fun doing it between buildings in a city – you don´t need a cloud forest). A cab cost rather a lot to get there, although it was a long way on pretty dire roads. We then learned the thing about most tourist attractions in Monteverde – you have to book in advance through a tourist agent, and then you get transport attached to your entry ticket (at a cost, of course). The canopy bridges were great fun and worth the expense – not necessarily for the wildlife, as you´re unlikely to see that much with plenty of people around – but for the fantastic views of the myriad foliage and flowers in the forest canopy, which you simply don´t see when you´re trekking on the ground. Again, I managed to keep my vertigo inclinations (eg: urge to chuck myself off) under control, even though you could see right through the metal frame of the bridge under your feet to the ground 60m below.
Its long, and its high...
That evening we went on a night trek through another forest reserve (this one bought through children´s fundraising throughout the world – originating in Sweden). We had great views of a family of raccoons and two coati´s foraging in the leaf litter for grubs and insects. Coati´s are fantastic – the size of a small dog, with white, pointed faces and a long, striped tail. We also saw numerous stick insects and a couple of orange and black tarantula´s in their burrows – which are also coati food – apparently their only defence is to brush off the hairs on their legs into an attacking coati´s face to try and make it sneeze (believe it)…. A good night out, although a little spoiled by some of our fellow tourees, who didn´t quite get the talking-really-loudly-scares-off-the-animals thing.
On our final day we took the bus up to the Santa Elena cloud forest reserve. This is government owned, but managed by the local high-school, which provides training for local young people with visitor proceeds – a really good example of sustainable tourism. We were astonished when we got off the bus to be approached by a large white-collared peccary, who proceeded to go around and sniff everyone, wanting pets – eh? He had fantastic course guard-hairs on his back, and a rotatable nose, a bit like a vacuum nozzle – how cool is that? Apparently, his name is Charlie and he was hand-reared before being released to do his own thing – trouble is, he of course thinks he´s a person, and probably wonders why everyone leaves him behind at the end of the day. It will be interesting if he finds a lady friend, however.
Charlie, the white-collared peccary/person.
The cloud forest here is quite different from that in Panama – for a start, the canopy isn´t dominated by the huge oaks we saw there. If anything, the forest is lighter and I guess you don´t feel as much in the wilderness as on Volcan Baru what with the well-maintained trails and more people (we were the only people on the mountain in Panama). We explored most of the trails, had a fantastic view of Volcan Arenal, 8km to the north, and saw two troupes of monkeys – more Capuchins and a family of howlers, the male of which shook his branch at us angrily, barking at us, whilst also chucking fruit. We got the message. We were also dogged by the calls of a mystery bird, which sounds a little like a rusty seesaw. Maybe that doesn´t do it justice – its actually a very haunting off-key fluting. We´d also had this surrounding us on the Quetzals trial in Panama. Of course, could we see the mystery bird? Could we heck. Anyone who recognises it from the video, please put us out of our misery.
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=ydczJuiFl3w
At the end of our visit, we were able to watch at least half a dozen species of hummingbirds using special feeders that the park had put out. I raced home to identify them – I think I got there, but it really wasn´t helped by the small dodgy illustrations in my bird book, nor the fact that there are dozens of the things and their differences are often somewhat subtle.
Light streams through a small gap in the canopy.
Next day we took the bus to Liberia, nursing the big hole in our wallet. The bus ride (as nearly always) was something else – the driver insisted on not going above five miles an hour. I kid you not. Yes, the road was badish, but nothing compared to the Puriscal road. Honestly, you could have jogged the 15 miles to the Inter-American faster. I had to read a book to stop myself from pulling my teeth out before rushing the driver and forcibly showing him where the accelerator was…
So, a good time was had on the green mountain. I think we were lucky to be there in the lowest time of the year - in the high season I´m sure it becomes something approaching a circus, which for me would spoil one of the main reasons to visit a cloud forest. I guess it’s a pretty good example of how to do mass-tourism next to a very sensitive and precious environment, but I hope they put the brakes on soon before it becomes owned by Disney.
