Wednesday 26/10/2022 Hotel El Icaco Tortuguero – Tortuguero National Park
Tortuguero National Park
Limón Province, COSTA RICA
Participants: Adrian (Guide), Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Sue Davies, Cal Stewart, Kerrie Stewart
For our afternoon we had booked a two-hour guided walk in Tortuguero National Park with our guide, Adrian. We got underway at 2:00pm after Adrian managed to gain us free park entry after Sue had had numerous failed attempts at making and paying for our reservations on the National Parks website, the only method provided for doing so. It turned out their system was down.
Max elevation: 16 m
Total climbing: 104 m
Total descent: -103 m
Average speed: 3.13 km/h
Total time: 02:23:09
It wasn’t far into the walk before Adrian found a poisonous red dart frog on an ant nest mound. Amongst our other subjects on today’s tour were some white-faced and howler monkeys, two species of toucan and a sloth. Adrian also explained that it being a relatively very dry season there were fewer snakes around than usual.
Strawberry Poison Dart Frog (Oophaga pumilio)
At one point we went onto the beach where we saw some turkey vultures and several other species of sea birds. We ignored these the moment Adrian noticed a turtle hatchling heading towards the water. He informed us that the whole nest hatches at once and all of the hatchlings that reach the water do so within about four minutes. About 10% don’t get there, usually falling prey to birds. Today with our presence the birds kept their distance, we and a gathering of other people needed to be careful not to tread on them as they frantically made their way to the water, tiny flippers digging into the sand to speed their progress. It was chaotic but they all knew which way to go. The next morning Sue went for an early morning shore run when she observed a solitary hatchling coming out of the water and heading back up the beach! The poor little one wouldn’t be around for much longer, joining the other 90% who were not going to make it.
Mantled Howler Monkey (Alouatta palliata)
Back in the rainforest we also saw some hummingbirds and butterflies flitting around. They proved near impossible to photograph as their erratic flight paths and momentary pauses on flowers and leaves were too fast for us old-timers to keep up with.
A full four hours after we had started our two-hour guided tour Adrian had us back at our hotel. He had been very accommodating and not once had he tried to hurry us along as we dawdled along observing and photographing all this splendid wildlife. Adrian also spent time telling us about the flora but somehow for all of us, the fauna was what always grabbed our attention. Adrian is an extremely competent, university trained, born and bred local guide who is full of enthusiasm for his job.
Whilst we were there we saw:
Amphibians: Strawberry Poison Dart Frog
Reptiles: Green Sea Turtle hatchling
Birds: Keel-billed Toucan, Aracaris, Black Vulture
Mammals: Mantled Howler Monkey, Spider Monkey, Sloth
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