Tortuguero National Park

On the 13th February we had an early start, jumping on a coach to head to Tortuguero National Park where we’d spend two nights. The roads out of San Jose were fine, relatively smooth asphalt and relatively little traffic. After a couple of hours we stopped off for breakfast on the edge of the jungle, having already eaten breakfast at the hotel we opted to explore the surrounding jungle. To Elana’s delight we spotted two sloths in the trees not far from the restaurant (from memory they were ‘three toed sloths’ as opposed to ‘two toed’). Further along the journey the once smooth roads became potholed tracks. We passed through vast swathes of banana plantations, predominantly branded ‘Delmonte’. The story goes that the land was gifted to an engineering firm as payment for building an east/west rail line in Coast Rica, to feed the workers they planted banana plantations which have subsequently become a commercial enterprise. Whilst the rail line still exists some parts have been destroyed by earthquakes and never repaired so is no-longer in full use. We stopped for a while watching the workers in the packaging plant wash and pack bananas for onward shipping, something the workers must be used to as there was a steady trickle of coaches.

We eventually made it to the edge of Tortuguero National Park where we jumped onto boats for transfer onto our hotel. On route a jaguar was spotted crossing the river ahead of us, unfortunately by the time we reached the location it had disappeared into the dense jungle. We did however, see two crocodiles, various birds and iguanas, and on arrival at the hotel, monkeys.

Our accommodation for the next two nights would be a jungle lodge on the banks of a river that backs the Caribbean Sea. The only way to enter the national park is through an organised tour so we had a pretty intense few days planned for us. After checking in and offloading our bags we headed over to Tortuguero Village (on the other side of the waterway) to see the efforts they are going to conserve the turtle (green and leatherback) population that lay their eggs annually on the beaches between July and October. Having visited a similar initiative in eastern Australia many moons ago it is clear that their approach is not as scientific or as meticulously planned, nonetheless they recognise the need to protect the turtles that return year on year. In Costa Rica there is a real focus on conservation, the country is really clean and green (physically and the way in which they treat the environment) and they go to great efforts to protect their natural environment which includes banning the hunting of animals. The beach fronting onto the Caribbean Sea was absolutely stunning, made up of volcanic sand, we enjoyed spending some time watching the waves pound the shoreline before heading back to our hotel.

The following morning Helen woke up a year older! Her birthday morning started with an early wake up call (5.30!) to head out on a wildlife spotting tour by boat. During the trip we spotted numerous species that call this area home. Crocodiles, various species of birds, iguanas and white faced monkeys to name a few. On return to the hotel we spotted some sloths hanging about in some trees near our lodge – Elana was delighted! Helen was less delighted when Mark and Elana discovered some tarantula burrows under our lodge, occupied by said tarantulas! The weather was delightfully hot so we elected to spend the remainder of the day around the hotel pool watching the wildlife that surrounded the hotel including the very comical howler monkey family and a wide variety of bird life. Elana had made friends with a French boy who was also on holiday and they had a great time playing in and around the pool. It’s amazing how resilient children are and how, despite the language barrier, they find their own ways to communicate and get along!Baca lagi