Personal Blogs

I took a three day trip to the Tortuguero National Park, quite a long journey from San Jose. The first 100km are along a very busy paved road, past the active Irazu volcano, merrily puffing out smoke and steam. The second part was slower but more interesting along fifty km of rough road - gravel and stones. We passed through many vast banana plantations, the biggest owned by Del Monte. It was the first time I have had to stop due to bananas crossing the road. The massive hands of bananas are chopped off the plant with a machete and then hung on an overhead pulley system. Twenty such hands were then hauled by one man to the processing plant, the track ran across the road at about head height but could be raised when not needed by bananas!

We also saw pineapples, coffee and cocoa plants along with several birds. I will list the wildlife I saw in a separate paragraph so those who are not interested can skip it. We eventually arrived, literally at the end of the road.

The only way into Torteguero is by plane or boat so we had a fifty km boat trip ahead. Up to the seventies Torteguero was the centre of a logging industry, with all the valuable hardwoods being chopped down and floated to the coast. The village of Torteguero was a turtle catching centre with turtles being killed for meat and their eggs also being sold. In 1970 the whole area was declared a national park and it has rejuvenated. The locals, rather than logging and catching turtles work for eco-tourism and seem to thrive on it. To give you a flavour of the park, I quote from the government website: "The area protected by Tortuguero (turtle catcher) National Park was an archipelago of volcanic islands until alluvial sediments from the interior mountains, filled in the spaces and formed a network of marshy islands. Sand piled up where the river deposited land met the sea, and the turtle nesting beaches of Tortuguero formed. The exceptionally high rainfall, and rich environment where the freshwater meets the sea makes the beaches, canals, lagoons and wetlands of Tortuguero areas of exceptional biodiversity, and opportunity for nature lovers."

The boat captains were amazing, they speed along at about 30 miles an hour but then suddenly stopped when they spotted something on the bank, or high in the trees and then zoomed over so we could get a closer look. How they spot things at speed I don't know, several times they saw things which I took ages to see when we were stationary, due to the excellent camouflage.

My favourite fact was regarding tiger herons and crocodiles. The heron's love to eat baby crocs, but the adults croc in their turn eat tiger-herons! Seems poetic justice.

We eventually arrived at the village of Tortuguero, built along a narrow sandbank between river and the Carribean Sea. It is a pleasant enough place, very friendly - most people of Carribean rather than Spanish descent. There was a school, two churches, several shops - souvenir and produce, cafes and some accommodation. The cheaper accommodation was in the village, more up-market resorts were tastefully hidden in the jungle on the opposite bank. They provided employment and were also very ecologically aware - no air conditioning, just fans and recycling everywhere.

During my stay I made two trips over to the village, had two guided boat tours and two jungle walks - one alone and one with a guide. I was really lucky as when I was with the guide there was just me, the boat captain and the guide. The difference they made was enormous, I just didn't spot things they (mostly the boat captain) saw. We got so close to birds, the nearest was when we got within touching distance of a boat-billed heron. Birds that didn't stay still were a rarity rather than the norm.

Here is a list of the wildlife I was lucky enough to see: birds - wood stork, anhinga (lots, usually sitting on a branch drying their wings after a dive), white ibis, bittern, little blue heron, roseate spoonbill, green heron, boat-billed heron, bare-throated tiger-heron, snowy egret, northern jacana, whimbrel, spotted sandpipe, turkey vulture, black & white stilt, groove-billed ani, white-fronted parrot, hummingbird, keel-billed toucan, collared aracari, fiery-billed aracari, ocellated antbird, yellow-billed cotinga, great-tailed greckle, montezuma orpendola, palm tangier, adwala. Other creatures which I saw (and identified - or had identfied for me!): long nosed bat (body only 4cm long), blue morpho butterfly, mantled howler monkey (what a noise they make, almost like lions!), white-throated capuchin, river otter, spectacled caiman, american crocodile, green iguana, emerald iguana, blue-jeans dart frog (poisonous, the natives used to use their venom in blow pipes, the frogs are only 2.5cm long!), river turtle, Atlantic Green Sea Turtle.

I deliberatly end with the green turtle. Last night after dark, but fortunately with a full moon, we went turtle watching. It is very tightly controlled - no one (apart from guides) is allowed any torches, no cameras, phones etc. No more than 10 to a group - I had only two! We went down to the beach and it wasn't long before a turtle came ashore, they are about one and half metres long and nearly a metre wide. She slowly hauled herself up the beach whilst we watched from a distance. She then dug a hole big enough so that she could lie in it, right on the edge of the beach next to the jungle. She then climbed in started laying, it appears they then go into a trance so it was safe to approach. The guides used subdued red lights to help us see and actually lifted the tail (seemed undignified ) so we could see the eggs dropping, about the size of pin pong balls and one every 6 or 7 seconds. They normally lay 80 - 100. When they have finished they scoot back into the sea and repeat the whole process about 5 times in a season. The sad thing is that, of all the eggs laid, only about one in one thousand actually live to be adult turtles, the rest provide food for scavengers .

It was an amazing experience, I saw four turtles landing, two laying and one scooting back into the water.

An incredible three days, what an experience - it MIGHT even get me into bird watching.

Photos can be viewed here.