Monday 17/10/2022 Sendero Cuecha – Quebrada Cuecha – Monteverde Cloud Forest, Biological Preserve
Tronadora, Monteverde
Alajuela Province
COSTA RICA
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report), Beth Davies, Kerrie Stewart, Cal Stewart, Felipe Ureña-Araya, Pablo Ureña Vega
We all headed off to explore the world-renowned cloud forest in Monteverde. Cloud forests are unique ecosystems as they represent less than 1% of the remaining forests on earth. Costa Rica boasts 5% of the world’s biodiversity so for a small country it puts Australia to shame. The conditions were noticeably cooler than in lower altitude areas in Costa Rica, which made a pleasant change from the tropical heat.
Max elevation: 1688 m
Total climbing: 1392 m
Total descent: -1412 m
Average speed: 4.74 km/h
Total time: 05:27:22
As we expected the conditions were foggy, as typical in cloud forests, but this limited the views at the lookouts. Today we had limited wildlife sightings but we were able to enjoy the peace of the forest while wandering through the various trails. There were several bridges that allowed us to view the forest from above.
Forest canopy along Sendero Wilford Guindon
We started on the Sendero Camino trail, then took the Sendero Bosue Nuboso to Sendero la Ventana Observation Deck and the eastern end of the trail system. We returned via the Sendero Camino and Sendero Roble, Sendero Chomogo and Sendero El Puente trails. We completed a final loop along Sendero Tosi trail and Quebrada Cuecha trail following Quebrada Cuecha Quebrada (Gorge) to “Cuecha” Cascada.
Whilst we were there we saw:
Round-backed Millipedes
Insects: Klug’s Clearwing butterfly
Birds: Great Kiskadee
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