Thursday 27/10/2022 Hotel El Icaco Tortuguero – Tortuguero National Park – Tortuguero Village
Tortuguero National Park
Limón Province, COSTA RICA
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Sue Davies, Cal Stewart, Kerrie Stewart
Following on from our guided night walk, canal canoeing and day walk over the previous 36 hours, today we opted to venture out on our own. Already fully aware that previously our guides had been the first to locate and identify 90% of our sightings we were hoping our observational skills may have improved a touch.
Max elevation: 5 m
Total climbing: 54 m
Total descent: -47 m
Average speed: 8.63 km/h
Total time: 00:39:53
After an early morning 6km beach run (Sue and Steve) and a leisurely breakfast we didn’t get started until 10:00am. So on leaving Hotel El Icaco Tortuguero, it was already very hot and humid, although a bit better under the forest canopy as we entered Tortuguero National Park.
National Park entry requires the purchase of a reservation, which can only be done via the National Parks website. Yesterday, however, we gained free entry due to a website glitch causing Sue’s multiple attempts to buy one to fail. This was incredibly frustrating as there was no indication that it was the website itself that was the problem. National Parks appeared to fix the problem overnight, so today we were successful in buying our reservations.
Today followed what seemed to be an ongoing pattern for us, we observed very little early in the walk before our success rate began to mount.
The highlight of the day was spotting an anteater sniffing out food high in the trees. We had been told there was one near-track marker number 41. It took a while to initially locate the anteater as it was moving from tree to tree and often hidden from view amongst the foliage or behind tree trunks. Nearby we also found a sloth and were thrilled when the anteater walked along the same branch the sloth was on, I was wrapt to get a picture of them both in the same frame!
Northern Tamandua (Tamandua mexicana)
Over our four hours of very slow walking and observing we ended up seeing, amongst other things
– The same poison dart frog in the same place living on and around an ants mound as yesterday
– A sloth and ant eater together
– A toucan, yellow-breasted bird, turkey vulture
– Agouti Watusa (Spanish)
– Lots of butterflies and dragonflies
– A male howling monkey
– Green-tailed lizards
– Macaws (only seen by Kerrie and Sue)
Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
Just to complete our day we booked into a night turtle tour. These tours are heavily regulated by National Parks and tour times and locations are determined by National Parks staff in order to minimize disruptions to the turtle nest building and egg laying. National Parks staff closely monitor the turtles on beach activity in real-time and fluidly allocate potential viewing slots depending on current circumstances.
Being near the end of the Green Turtle egg laying season we were hoping some may turn up on this moonless night. We were allocated a 9:00 – 11:00pm viewing slot and after a considerable wait assigned to a spot near beach entrance 41.
Whilst waiting and telling us about turtle behaviour Adrian went to investigate a rain-like sound he but no one else heard. In pitch black he found the cause, a porcupine about 50m away, high in a tree.
After a lot more on the beach waiting under the stars and an introductory information session on the green turtle we finally had our turn just before midnight. In order to minimise disturbance of the turtle’s egg laying, that involved many people waiting in complete darkness for as long as it took. No lights, no photography and no noise allowed. However, it seems as if the three shooting stars I observed whilst waiting on the beach were exempt.
Preplanned for our viewing slot were the shortest people to be in front and kneeling whilst everyone else would stand behind them. Once at the nest, we quickly got into position, and saw a number of eggs at the bottom of the nest and three being laid under the red light illumination provided by the guide’s torch. We were finished within 90s seconds to make way for the next group.
Our guide, Adrian, explained that they were only expecting around fifty to hundred eggs to be laid by this turtle tonight, hence the very short viewing time. The turtle lays about 1,000 eggs each season after they reach maturity at 25 years and then lay eggs each season until they die between ages of 80 and 120 years.
Overall only 10% of the hatchlings survive. Some are lost in the perilous journey to the ocean, hence they move at breakneck speed but the most dangerous part of the journey is once they reach the ocean. They are taken from above by birds and below by fish, the surviving 10% who make it into deep offshore water usually live through to adulthood.
From here it was a walk back to our room and into bed just before 1:00am. It had been a hot and humid night and we were still perspiring in our air-conditioned room when we got back. All to be expected, as we were after all in the tropics and we had been very lucky that we had no rain after showers on the first night.
The town’s name, Tortuguero, originated from a Spanish corruption of a Creole word meaning Turtle. Tortuguero is home to four of the six turtle species found in Costa Rica and only seven species found in the world.
Tortuguero is a wonderful car-free town where you need to listen out for any cyclist’s “bee beep” as they try to pass.
I should also note that our guide Adrian had to lead a 6:00am canoe tour this morning after finishing his previous day’s turtle tour with us at 1:00am, talk about a long work day!
Whilst we were there we saw:
Insects: Large Woodskimmer dragonfly,
Amphibians: Strawberry Poison Dart Frog,
Reptiles: Unidentified lizard species
Birds: Black Vulture, Keel-billed Toucan, Great Kiskadee
Mammals: Central American Agouti, Mantled Howler Monkey, Hoffmann’s Two-toed Sloth, Northern Tamandua (The “Ant Eater”)
Photos – boat trip back out
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