Day 2 In The Jungle

The alarms went off at 0430am this morning! An interesting night sleep to report - aside from the cacophony of snores and farts, we all got awoken at 2330 by a lady having a night terror (it was a horror movie scream) - luckily after realising we were not being attacked we got back to sleep! And it was a very fun way to spend the night!

Our day started with a 0500 hike through the dark jungle to sit at a lagoon and wait for the hopeful famous Tapier. Whilst we waited we saw many a beautiful bird and we did see a Tapier crossing but very far in the distance. After maybe an hour of waiting we decided it was time to head back for breakfast, however, as we were walking back through the jungle we were stopped in our tracks as a Tapier came walking towards us. We stood very still as it sniffed around us getting up close and personal with our guide. It then moved on so obviously we followed. She lead us right through the jungle to the beach where she continued to munch away on nearby plants while we sat and watched the magnificent creature. Pretty magical.

Post breakfast it was time for another 3 hour hike - this walk again had so much to offer - monkeys , birds, Sloths AND would you believe it…A MOTHER AND A CHILD TAPIER!!! Freya said the words ‘you have got to be joking’ as they came round the corner. Another pretty amazing and very rare site.

Lunch saw another rice and beans combo, with a little post lunch snooze for most.

2pm came round and we were out again but this time exploring a more untrodden path in the jungles primary forest. This featured some pretty breathtaking forestry (huge trees), muddy paths and monkeys having a chat with Giovani. A really fun hike that we all really enjoyed, not as much wildlife but had a real sense of adventure about it.
As the sunset we head back to camp for our evening meal and a quick bedtime as we were all pretty exhausted from the days adventures.
Corcovado only became a National Park in 1975. Prior to this much deforestation had occurred for farming and a small airstrip had been cleared in the jungle. However, once the park was formed, the communities that had grown within the park were moved out and the forest had a chance to regenerate. As a result, the park consists of primary rainforest and secondary. The pictures at the end of this post show the 1975 Park with the airstrip and the site of the early Sirena Ranger station and the second picture shows the park from several years ago.
The park itself contains 2% of the world’s biodiversity .Read more