tomandbuntytrails

Our first trip was to Monteverde, around 3 hours’ drive north from the capital, San Jose. Monteverde is an area of cloud forest in the Cordillera de Tilarán mountain range. Cloud forest are like rain forests, only higher up and considerable cooler! We fell in love with a tiny little wooden house we found online called Lemon House and we stayed for three nights. Right next to our home lived a cool guy called José who lived on his own amongst his organic crops, surrounded by the lush mountains.

We love really simple accommodation like this, back to basics is the order of the day for us! It was well thought-out, beautiful and affordable. We sat for hours on the balcony watching the humming birds – the owner kindly lent us a hummingbird feeder – and enjoyed the stunning views of the surrounding hills.

The first night we went on an organised night walk – we saw a green viper, snail eating snake, 2 tarantulas, a sloth (apparently!), a sleeping mot mot bird, some cute frogs – red eyed frog and a tree frog, sleeping toucan, opossum, stick insects and a huuuuuge snail! The snail was by far the largest one we have ever seen but is not to be confused with invasive African Land Snail, which is causing havoc around Liberia (North West, Costa Rica)!

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The next day we discovered Finca Ecologica, San Luis. We were a bit late to trek around so the guide recommended we come back the next morning. We paid $10 each and had access to the entire 100 acres of primary forest – stunning! A variety of different landscapes and habitats are there to explore – from cloud forest to open land that felt like a prairie, a beautiful river and loads of huge blue morpho butterflies, which Costa Rica is famous for.

The following day we checked out and decided to look around the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve – we had heard that it’s one of the few areas where the relatively elusive Resplendent Quetzal. The Quetzal lives in areas of cloud forest between 1500 and 2500 metres ranging from Southern Mexico to Western Panama. Click here, for more info https://www.anywhere.com/flora-fauna/bird/resplendent-quetzal

Within a few metres of entering the trail we spotted a family of Howler Monkeys! It was fascinating wandering around the jungle trails where it’s difficult to comprehend sheer variety which makes up the tapestry of plants and trees. One of the trails takes you right to the top of the cloud forest, where you are quite literally in the clouds! It’s a really special place!

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