La Selva

Moving on to our last destination in Costa Rica (after this we only have one night in capital awaiting international bus) we arrived yesterday in La Selva.

Yesterday we spent a few hours at a White-Collared Manakin Lek. Photos and video attached - in order to impress the female several males will gather at a Lek site and perform a strange dance where they “jump” from one point to another making a clicking sound. The clicks are actually made by a bone in their wings.

It has been quite wet the last few days which has forced us to take things a bit easier. But we were out for 5 hours this morning 5.30-10.30 birding and looking for mammals. We added the Sun Grebe which is quite hard to see and a close relative to the African Finfoot which we saw in Botswana. Our clothes are now hanging to dry.

We have also seen various mammals (a Peccary relative of pigs but very small) reptiles (large green Basilisk today) frogs (several named Blue Jean Frog because of their coloured legs) and bats (amazing sleeping Honduran White Bats, they are called tent making bats because they find a big leaf and bite it to change the shape so it forms a tent for them to sleep under).

Most of the people we meet here are on a 2-3 week holiday with a high budget. We are cooking ourselves and taking sandwiches for breakfast (while they eat fully cooked yummy things). When we get talking they are all amazed by the trip we are taking and many end up following my wildlife blog.

This compares to Nicaragua and Guatemala where most of the westerners we met were backpackers and who were either heading north or south on long trips through multiple countries. Most the backpackers move rapidly through Costa Rica because it is expensive.

Talking of budgets we have now decided we are not going to the Galapagos on this trip. It is very expensive and the money saved will help us continue using guides in South America which really enhances our wildlife spotting and it is also good to support local people.

We hand the car back on 15th and then head to Panama the next day.

Going to try a bit of interaction and invite any questions about our trip in general or Costa Rica specifically in the comments below!Read more