Wednesday 19/10/202 Selvatura Park
Monte Verde, Guanacaste Province
COSTA RICA
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Sue Davies, Cal Stewart, Kerrie Stewart
We headed out before 8:00am this morning in an attempt to avoid as many people as we could, as often when we have recently encountered other people they seen more intent on getting their Instagram shots before walking off to the next Instagram-worthy stop. Lots are also engrossed in loud conversations and walking at a pace that would ensure they scared off any wildlife, so they would see very little.
Max elevation: 1659 m
Total climbing: 714 m
Total descent: -715 m
Average speed: 3.23 km/h
Total time: 04:02:53
Today at the entrance we decided to do a guided walk since we had done most of our earlier ones by ourselves. Our two-hour tour ended four hours after we started! Our guide, Juan Carlos was born in Monte Verde and had guided in this park for 18 years. He was super passionate and enthusiastic about showing us the forest and its wildlife.
Forest canopy
Juan Carlos pointed out and described the relationships between numerous plant species. There was no plant or flower that he couldn’t identify and point out features of and inform us of related species we had in our own countries. Of note here, at the park entrance, were a number of Australian bottlebrushes which appear to be irresistible to the local hummingbirds.
Forest from above
He is also an excellent birdsong mimic, so as he heard a bird singing he would tell us what species it was and repeat its call so we would know what to listen out for. Once he heard birdsong he was also able to sight the bird far more rapidly than we could before pointing their location out to us with his laser pointer.
The suspension bridges were a great way of getting off the forest floor to observe what it was like as one transitioned through the forest and out above the canopy.
Whilst we were there we saw:
Millipede of Genus Costa
Insects: Megaloprepus diaboli (Damselfly), Malachite butterfly
Birds: Mountain-Gems, Purple-throated Mountain-Gem
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