daniel grafstrom
level designer
2009 . Costa Rica
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A new day, new adventures in Corcovado National Park. There's not much sleep to be had when it's 90 degrees at night and when howler monkeys start screaming at daybreak. It's time to get up and see more of this biodiversity. We got breakfast and then headed out with two folks (strangely also from Seattle) to get an idea of where we would be going the following morning.
We're not the only ones waking up, time for sunbathing. This iguana may have been about two or three feet long.
A howler monkey's blurry arse. Never got a good shot of these loud jerks. After this we took a side route for what we thought would be a few minutes, but turned into climbing a massive mountain. Along the way up we thought to hear a grunting jaguar nearby. After creeping near the noise we found it was coming from up in the trees. Right as we look up, a massive booming, flapping sound breaks out and a Crested Guan flies out of the tree above us. Good thing it wasn't a jaguar.
We returned to camp for lunch and heard of a tapir sleeping not far from camp. We headed out and found him laying in some mud to keep cool. After Gabe nearly got close enough to pet him we took the bushwhack trail out of there and caught this ant eater scurrying across the ground and then up this tree. Stay safe.
After photographing a woodpecker above us, we kept going along the trail and I happened to take a glance to my right. I saw something flick out of the corner of my eye. After a double take, I saw there were these two puma cubs laying just off the trail. We creeped over to where we were maybe 20 feet from them and sat and watched them for a while, waiting to see if the mother would come back. Perhaps we were lucky she didn't. Of all the walks to not bring my telephoto lense ;]
Gabe stops for a pose on the way back. We saw more large cat footprints on the beach sand, maybe the pumas, but we also heard about a jaguar in the area. Would have been awesome to see a jaguar, but two pumas are good enough!
Back to base camp where we stayed in the park. We had reservations for a room (to the right in the covered buildings) but people can also come in and just camp on the grass. Last night in the camp, time for some rum!
Finally, the monkeys! Off we go the next morning, bright and early as we start another 12 mile hike- this time across the blazing beach. Maybe an hour into the hike, we run across a big group of squirrel monkeys playing in the trees.
Awesome monkey gives a perfect pose.
Crispety, crunchety, peanut buttery... giant grasshopper. Fun to watch him grab it off the ground and then climb up to eat!
Amazing beach with no one on it!
I thought Gabe was making a funny sound, only to look up and catch these McCaws in the trees above us.
These are apparently the raccoons of the jungle. This guy stayed around to say "piss off" before returning to his pack.
Sleepy tapir is sleepy. These guys don't seem to mind you getting too close, as long as you don't get... TOO close.
Poor little monkey just remembered he forgot to do his taxes :(
Monorail Monkey!
A female basilisk or "jesus lizard" warms up in the sun. The males are the cool looking ones with the poofy dinosaur fins, but they also are very fast and hard to photograph! I did see them run across water a few times, awesome!
This was a common site near the beach. These are actually tons of little crabs moving out of the sun.
This was maybe 8 miles into the hike, the sun was SEARING down, somewhere between 90 and 100 degrees. Every step sinking into the sand. I couldn't imagine a better thing to see than this sign (drinkable water).
Alright, maybe this was better- the actual water. An oasis! I must have drink at least 5 canteens of water here.
From the end of the oasis looking back on the beach. We came from far beyond the furthest bend on the horizon. Beautiful, hot.
A short distance more and we arrived at a place where you could stop to rest and buy food and drinks. I think we drank some Coke (which tasted amazing) and sat in some hammocks looking out at the beach for about 15 minutes. This Sunny doppelganger was playing nearby. As I said to Gabe at the time, I'd never been so relaxed in my life on that hammock.
Break time's over! Just about 3 kilometers to go and we're done!
Holy Moly! Alright, it was well worth it. After getting settled in at Camp Gringo, we cleaned up and enjoyed the sunset. Cheers!
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